New Delhi: The BJP was leading in 241 constituencies and the Congress in 99 about four and half hours into the counting for the Lok Sabha polls on Tuesday, with the saffron party engaged in a seesaw battle with its opponents Uttar Pradesh and falling way behind in Maharashtra and West Bengal.
According to the Election Commission of India website, the BJP-led NDA was doing spectacularly well in another crucial state Bihar, where its constituents were leading in 31 out of 38 seats. The INDIA bloc partners RJD, CP-ML and CPI were ahead of their rivals in four, two and one seat(s) respectively.
The NDA was also sweeping Andhra Pradesh, with its partners ahead in 21 of the 25 LS seats in the state.
However, contrary to exit poll predictions, the INDI alliance had moved marginally ahead of the NDA bloc with leads in 41 out of the state's 80 seats. The Samajwadi Party (SP) was leading in 34 seats and the Congress in one. While the BJP was ahead in 35 constituencies, its partner RLD was occupying the top spot in both the seats it contested.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has widened his lead to over 57,000 votes in Varanasi, another BJP heavyweight Union Minister Smriti Irani was trailing in Amethi against Kishori Lal of the Congress by around 32,000 votes.
On the other hand, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi was leading by close to one lakh votes in the Gandhi family's pocket borough of Rae Bareli.
The Congress was also doing well in Haryana, where its candidates have left their opponents behind in five seats, while the BJP was maintaining leads in four constituencies.
After an initial close fight, the INDIA bloc, called Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra, have pulled away from the state's ruling Mahayuti. At the time of filing this report, the MVA was ahead in 30 sats, and the Mahayuti in 17. While the Congress and Shiv Sna (UBT) contestants have marched ahead of their rivals in 11 seats each, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) was leading in eight.
In the Pawar clan's prestige battle at Baramat, Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule was ahead of her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar, wife of Sharad's Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar. The junior Pawar had rebelled against his uncle an caused a split in the NCP legislature party around 11 months back and joined the Eknath Shinde government which has BJP as a dominant partner.
As per the latest trends, the BJP parliamentary contestants were leading in 11, the Eknah Shinde led Shiv Seana candidates were ahead in five, while NCP(AP) of Ajit Pawar was in the pole position in only one seat.
In Sangli, a rebel Congress candidate Vishal Patil, who contested as an independent after the MVA top brass gave the seat to Shiv Sena (UBT) of Uddhav Thackeray, was in the pole position.
However, cheers for the BJP came from Madhya Pradesh, where it is on oourse to a clean sweep with leads in all 29 constituencies. In Gujarat too, the BJP nominees were leading in 24 of the state's 26 constituencies.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, considered the second most powerful man in the government and the BJP, had amassed a huge lead of over 3,86,000 votes.
In the eastern state of West Bengal, BJP seemed headed to a big disappointment, after most of the exit polls put the party ahead of the ruling Trinamool Congress. According to the latest trends, Trinamool has surged ahead of the BJP with leads in 31 constituencies, while the BJP was leading in ten, and the Congress in one.
Trinamool Congress general secretary and party supremo Mamata Banrjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee has amassed a huge lead in Diamond Harbour constituency, while the party candidate Partha Bhowmicl was marginally ahead in Barrckpore against sitting MP BJP's Arjun Singh.
Retired Calcutta High Court justice and BJP candidate Abhijt Ganguly was leading by a slender 5,000 plus votes in Tamluk.
However, a thrilling three-way contest was on in Baharmpur, where Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was now in the second position behind Trinamool candidate former cricketer Yusuf Pathan. A short while back Chhouwdhury was in the third position, with BJP's Nirmal Kumar Saha in the lead. Saha has presently dropped to the third spot. UNI SSP
Earlier, the counting of votes for 542 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats began at 8 am. The Surat seat in Gujarat was won by BJP unopposed.
The winning party or coalition needs at least 272 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats to be in power at the centre.
