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The counting of votes for the nearly one-and-a-half-month-long national elections began at 8 am on Tuesday and according to the latest trends, the Hindu nationalist BJP-led alliance NDA is leading.
The NDA is leading in 277 seats and if these trends hold true till the end, the Narendra Modi-led BJP will easily form the government for the third time.
However, contrary to the exit polls, the Congress-led alliance 'India' is also doing better as per the initial trends and has a lead of around two hundred seats. Other parties are leading on 47 seats.
The Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, has a total of 543 seats and requires a minimum of 272 seats to form a government with a simple majority.
This time, the 18th Lok Sabha elections were held in seven phases, with the first phase voting on April 19 and the last phase on June 1. From Surat Lok Sabha constituency of Gujarat. BJP candidates had already won unopposed.
The Election Commission of India says that the counting of postal ballot papers started early in the morning and after their counting was completed, the EVM machines were opened, which are still being counted and the situation is expected to be clear by the evening.
Who is winning and who is losing?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ahead of his rival Congress candidate Ajay Rai in Varanasi constituency. He is in the field for the third time from here.
Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi has a clear lead from Kerala's Wayanad seat in South India. He was also in the fray from Rae Bareli constituency in UP, where according to the latest trends, he is leading there as well.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is also leading from Lucknow seat and Home Minister Amit Shah is also leading from Ahmedabad seat.
There are five parliamentary seats in Jammu and Kashmir, where the BJP is leading in two seats in Jammu while the National Conference is leading in two seats in the Kashmir Valley. Engineer Sheikh Rasheed, an independent candidate imprisoned in Delhi jail, is leading in the seat of Baramulla.
However, former Chief Minister of the state Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti are trailing behind in their respective constituencies. An independent candidate is also leading in a single seat in Ladakh.
Bearishness in the share market
India's market shares fell by more than 2000 points during the counting of votes for the parliamentary elections.
The stock market crashed on Tuesday after a huge jump the previous day. This is said to be because early trends in vote counting did not indicate that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance was leading in more than 272 seats.
