Live Results Lok Sabha Election 2019: BJP gets over 50% votes in several states

The ruling NDA has secured 351 seats while opposition UPA has got 92 seats in this election while 99 seats went to other political parties/ alliances. 

The ruling BJP has got 20 seats more than its 2014 tally. By the end of counting the saffron party has secured 302 seats while bagged Congress 52 which is 3 seats less for the post of Leader of Opposition. 

This is the second consecutive time, the position of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha will be vacant as no single party in the opposition has secured 55 required for the post of Leader of Opposition.

The NDA has secured 351 seats followed by 92 with UPA and 99 by Others. In 2014, NDA had 351 seats but despite a major partner TDP quitting the alliance, the NDA won 350 seats in Lok Sabha 2019.  

BJP bags 62.21% votes while Congress gets 32% votes in Gujarat. 

BJP got fewer seats than 2014 but more votes. The saffron party has registered 49.5% votes in UP while Congress got only 6.26%. SP-BSP Mahagath Bandhan got 19.31%. 

BJP gets 57.98% votes in Haryana while Congress trailed with 28.44% votes. 

BJP not only retained all the 7 MPs seats in Delhi but got 56.55% seats in Delhi. Congress got 22.51% while AAP got only 18.12%. Here BSP got 1.08%. 

Haryana's former CM Bhupinder Singh Hoods has lost LS election from Sonepat by a huge margin of 1,64,864 votes. Here BJP's Ramesh Chander won for the second consecutive time. 

As the main opposition party, Congress is likely to get 51 seats only, the post of Leader of Opposition seems to be vacant for 17th Lok Sabha. As per the rule at least 55 MPs are required for the post of LOP in Lok Sabha. The 16th Lok Sabha also did not have LOP as Congress had got only 44 seats. 

BJP is all set to get over 20 seats from its 282 in 2014. The rival Congress has improved its tally but by only 6 seats. The grand old party is still struggling to get the post of Leader of Opposition (LOP). 

BJP registered clean sweep in several states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi has congratulated PM Modi for the victory in LS Elections 2019. 

PM Modi emphasised that BJP was decent when it had 2 seats and also when it is going to come in power twice. BJP had two seats in 1980 Lok Sabha Election. 

I will not do anything with 'bad intention'. 

I will not do anything for me. 

I will dedicate every moment of my life for the country.   

"You blessed me fully. I promise to fulfil your expectations," PM Modi. "You did not know me in 2014 but now you know me more and gave me more," said PM Modi. 

Prime Minister Narendra  Modi asserted that he would not mind whatever said against him during elections. He would strive to take everybody with him. 

In his victory speech, PM Modi asserted that the political analysts not to see India from caste and religious perspectives but from a new perspective. 

There will be only two castes in India in the 21st century - poor and those who contribute to eliminating poverty i.e. taxpayers. 'We need to empower both the poor and the taxpayers," said Modi. 

PM Modi said in every election there was a group that used to say 'Seculars should unit' but they were exposed and silenced since 2014. They did not utter even a single word in this 2019 election. 

PM Modi credits BJP's victory to the people who were suffering from poverty, lack of medicines and lack of houses. 

BJP Giriraj Singh defeated CPI's Kanhaiya Kumar by a margin of 4,22,217 votes. Giriraj Singh received over 6.92 lakh votes while Kumar got 2.69 lakh votes. Tanweer Hassan is RJD gets 1.98 lakh votes. 

NDA 350 

UPA 93 

OTHERS 99

BJP set to get full seats in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. 

NDA gets 62 in Uttar Pradesh, 39 in Bihar, 28 in Madhya Pradesh, 

BJP has made a grand entry in Odisha by emerging front runner in 9 LS seats while Naveen Patnaik's BJD is leading at 12 seats. 

BJP appeared set for major gains in Lok Sabha polls in Odisha with its candidates leading in nine seats, while the ruling BJD is ahead in 12. As per the latest trend, BJP candidates are leading in Balasore, Bargarh, Bhubaneswar, Balangir, Kalahandi, Sundargarh, Sambalpur and Puri, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Surendra Kumar said.

BJP president Amit gets 68.77% votes from Gandhi Nagar while Congress president Rahul Gandhi was polled 64.67% votes in Wayanad. Rahul had contested from two seats - Amethi and Wayanad. He lost Amethi to BJP's Smriti Irani but won Wayanad seat. 

Amit Shah gets 8,89,925 votes which are 68.77% votes from Gandhi Nagar. 

PM Modi gets 6,74,664 votes which are 63.62% of total valid votes in Varanasi.  

Rahul Gandhi gets 7,06,367 which are 64.67% of total valid votes in Wayanad. 

Sonia Gandhi voted 5,34,918 which are 55.8% votes in Rail Bareli. 

Rebel BJP leaders Shatrughan Sinha has lost the election to BJP's Ravishankar Prasad from Patna Sahib constituency in Bihar. Prasad got 5,95,490 which is 61.77 % while Sinha got 32.91%. 

Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan has bagged 52.69% votes in Rampur LS constituency. His closest rival Jayaprada Nahata of BJP got 42.63 % votes. 

Khan considered as Muslim face of SP was polled 5,55,951 votes. He was the joint candidate of SP-BSP Mahagath Bandhan. 

In a stellar performance Union Minister Smriti Irani has defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi by 38,449 votes from Amethi.

In the counting completed by around 6 pm on Thursday Irani got 3,11,992 while Rahul Gandhi was polled 2,73,543 votes. As SP-BSP Mahagath Bandhan had not fielded any candidate from Amethi, it was a direct fight between Rahul and Smriti. 

Irani has polled 49.83% votes while Rahul Gandhi got 43.69% votes. A total of 2,681 which is around 0.43% votes were polled for NOTA. In total there were 27 candidates in the fray out of which 25 could not save their deposit. 

In a press conference at Congress headquarters in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi accepted defeat and congratulated Smriti Irani. 

The formal announcement of the winning candidate will be done after verification of 5 VVPATs. 

After ups and downs since morning BJP finally won Rohtak LS seat in Haryana. 

Reversing their verdict of 2014, the people of Tamil Nadu have given around 22 seats to DMK while AIADMK is reduced to 8 seats. 

Speaking to media in his first reaction of the D Day, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, "I always speak love and will continue to speak love'. He said today is the day to congratulate PM Modi. "I congratulate PM Modi and his party for the stellar victory," said Rahul. 

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekaron Thursday termed BJP's humongous lead in the Lok Sabha election results trends as "pro-incumbency and positive" vote by the people of the country. Talking to ANI Javadekar said, "This is a big victory of people as they believe in Prime Minister Narendra Modi. People have voted for security and development of the country. This is a pro-incumbency and positive vote.

Congress president has congratulated Smriti Irani for her victory from Amethi. 'The people of Amethi has shown confidence in her. I hope she would serve them with love," said Rahul. 

Congress president Rahul Gandhi congratulates PM Modi and BJP for the victory in LS 2019. "There's nothing personal. The battle is ideological. I fully respect the mandate," said Rahul in a press conference. 

Mamata Banerjee's TMC was Thursday facing massive headwinds in the key battleground state of West Bengal where it is locked in a neck-and-neck fight with the BJP, with the state's ruling party leading in 22 Lok Sabha seats and the challenger saffron outfit in 19. According to latest Election Commission figures, the BJP was also the main contender in 21 of the 22 seats where the Trinamool Congress was leading.

The saffron party was giving the TMC a run for its money even in terms of vote share having polled 39.81 per cent of votes counted so far. The TMC has clinched 43.8 per cent. The four-party Left Front, once a formidable force in the state, has garnered a measly 7.8 per cent of votes so far, and its candidates are leading in none of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats.

Film actress Hema Malini is all set to retain her Mathura seat, establishing a huge lead of 2,78,629 votes over her nearest rival Kunwar Narendra Singh of Rashtriya Lok Dal. The actor-politician, who led a colourful campaign that led to many memes and jokes, took to Twitter to congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah for the "stupendous" performance of the BJP.

Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh has said that Congress suffered losses due to hugging episode between Navjot Singh Siddhu and Pak General Bajwa. He also said that he would present the report before Congress' top leadership for action. 

The BJP is leading in all 26 Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With its candidates securing leads of more than three lakh votes in nine seats, the party appeared set to repeat its 2014 performance. Party president Amit Shah, who is contesting his maiden Lok Sabha election, has taken a lead of over 5.54 lakh votes over his nearest Congress rival CJ Chavda in Gandhinagar. 

At least 9 former Chief Ministers of Congress are set to loose LS elections in various states. They are 

Sheila Dikshit, East Delhi, former CM of Delhi 

BS Hooda, Sonepat, former CM of Haryana 

Harish Rawat, former CM of Uttarakhand

Digvijay Singh, Bhopal, former CM of Madhya Pradesh

Ashok Chavan, Aurangabad, former CM of Maharashtra 

Sushil Kumar Shinde, Solapur, former CM of Maharashtra 

Mukul Sangma, Tura, former CM of Meghalaya

Nabam Tuki, Arunachal West, former CM of Arunachal Pradesh

Veerappa Moily, Chikkaballapur, former CM of Karnataka

As per the trends available by 3.30 pm, BJP is leading at 59 seats. The Mahagath Bandhan is leading at 17 seats out of which BSP at 11 and SP at 6 seats. 

Congress, Apna Dal and RLD are leading at 1 seat each. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the third PM of India after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi to return in power with full majority. 

After Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Narendra Modi is the third prime minister of the country who has been able to retain power for a second term with full majority in Lok Sabha. As counting goes on across the country on Thursday, trends show the Modi-led BJP would be easily able to cross the halfway mark of 272 seats in the 17th Lok Sabha elections.

In 2014, the BJP had won 282 seats out of total 543 in Lok Sabha. Jawaharlal Nehru won around three-fourths of the Lok Sabha seats in the first elections in the country during 1951-52. Subsequently, he was able to win 1957 elections as well as 1962 elections with full majority.

Senior Congress leader Rajiv Shukla has said that the Congress' loss in the ensuing election was due to less responsibility to Priyanka Gandhi. 

The Prime had won this Varanasi LS seat for the first time in 2014 with a huge margin of over  4 lakh votes. 

Rahul Gandhi has won Wayanad seat with a record margin of around 12,76,945 votes. The announcement, however, will be done after verification by VVPAT. 

Union Minister Smriti Irani leads by around 21,000 votes in Amethi forcing Rahul Gandhi to the trail. In 2014, Rahul Gandhi had defeated Irani but 2014 but this time Irani the seat seems tough for Rahul who represented it for three consecutive times since 2004. 

Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which has been in power in the Himalayan state for 25 years is leading in four Assembly seats, trends showed. In 2014 Assembly elections, SDF won 23 seats in the 32-member Assembly, while SKM settled with nine seats.

Both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections were held in Sikkim on April 11. Sikkim Lok Sabha seat, a traditional SDF stronghold, is currently held by sitting MP Prem Das Rai since 2009. Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling has been in power since 1994. He is the country's longest serving chief minister of a state. Opposition Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) won five out of 32 Assembly constituencies in Sikkim, while it is leading on four other seats, according to Election Commission trends. The SKM is leading in the Sikkim Lok Sabha seat.

Former Union Minister Sharad Pawar said the opposition partieshad anticipated the BJP would do well in certain states, but did not expect "such a big victory" across the country. "Doubts were indeed raised (about EVMsfunctioning)," Pawar told reporters here.

"But I don't want to blame the machines now since the result is out. Once the verdict is out, it has to be accepted gracefully and I am accepting it gracefully," he said. Pawar said the "spectre of suspicion" indeed prevailed in the minds of people in the run up to the polls.

In a clear reverse of its verdict in assembly elections 2018, the people of Rajasthan have voted for Modi. The saffron party is presently leading at 24 out of 25 seats in the state. 

The BJP is set to repeat its 2014 stellar performance in Rajasthan as the latest trends show the party leading in 24 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state, with its ally the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party leading in the other seat. The Congress, which has a wafer-thin majority in the state Assembly, has failed to breach the BJP fortress of Bikaner, Churu, Jhalawar and Jalore where lotus has bloomed in the last three parliamentary elections.

In the Bakiner seat, Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is leading by more than 2.60 lakh votes over his cousin and former IPS officer Madan Gopal Meghwal. Arjun Ram Meghwal had won the seat in 2009 and 2014 and before him, it was veteran Bollywood actor Dharmendra won the seat for BJP in 2004.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi leading with over 7,90,000 votes from Kerala's Wayanad. However, he trailing Union Minister Smriti Irani in his home turf Amethi which he represented three consecutive times. 

Amit Shah is leading with over 4 lakh votes from Gandhinagar seat in Gujarat breaking the record of LS Advani.

Congress has maintained the lead at lone LS seat of Puducherry.

The ruling Congress Thursday established a strong lead of over 85,000 votes in the lone Lok Sabha constituency in the Union Territory. Congress candidate V Vaithilingam secured 1,77,340 votes while his nearest rival Narayanasamy Kesavan of AINRChas polled 92,048 votes, according to the latest information made available by the Election Commission. 

In the nine seats, BJP candidates including five of its sitting MPs—two of them union ministers—were leading by margins ranging between 1 and 4 lakh. From Karnal, BJP's local leader Sanjay Bhatia was leading over his nearest Congress rival Kuldeep Sharma by a margin of nearly 4.5 lakh votes.

Rohtak was witnessing a see-saw contest between sitting MP Deepender Singh Hooda, who after leading with a margin of more than 13,000 votes at one stage over BJP's Arvind Sharma, was now trailing by over 4500 votes, as per trends available with the Election Commission. 

BJP seems to have reduced Congress - JDS alliance in Karnataka. The saffron party is set to make major gains in the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka where it is leading in 24 out of the 28 seats, according to Election Commission trends. Senior Congress leaders who are trailing in the state include Mallikarjun Kharge and Veerappa Moily. Former Prime Minister Deve Gowda of JD(S) is trailing behind. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday led his Bharatiya Janata Party towards what looks set to be a resounding victory for a second term in office, as his message of nationalism, national security and Hindu pride struck a chord among voters across large swathes of India. With the elections establishing the 68-year-old Modi as the most popular leader in decades, the partial vote count released by the Election Commission showed that BJP was expected to surpass its 2014 performance. It was leading in 296 of the 542 Lok Sabha seats that went to polls in seven phases, demolishing the combined opposition with the Congress Party stuck at 51 seats, according to the trends.

The position at 2 pm 

Total seats 20

Congress - UDF lading at 15 seats 

IUML leads at 2 

Kerala Congress 1 

RSP 1 

LDF CPI M 1 

Rahul Gandhi is also leading with 34,989 votes from Wayanad against his nearest rival P P Suneer of CPI. 

YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy, who steered his party YSR Congress Party to a spectacular victory in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, will take oath as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on May 30. Ummareddy Venkateswarlu, YSRCP leader and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, gave this information as the party is set for a landslide victory in both the elections held simultaneously last month in the state.

With the YSR Congress all set to wrest power in Andhra Pradesh, the YSRC Legislature Party will meet here on May 25 to formally elect its chief Jaganmohan Reddy as the leader, party sources said Thursday

Reddy will take oath as Chief Minister in the temple-town of Tirupati on May 30, the sources said

The YSRC is on course to secure a landslide win in the assembly elections as the latest trends show it is leading in over 150 seats out of the total 175 in the State.

According to sources, BJP will approach the President on May 26. 

BJP leading at 10 while Congress leading at 1 seat by 1.30 pm. Around six months back Congress wrested power from BJP with two third majority. 

The ruling BJP has maintained lead at all 26 seats in Gujarat while Congress is at 0. There is no significant presence of the third party in the state. 

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao Thursday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the spectacular victory of BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha polls. He wished that the country march ahead under the leadership of Modi, a release from the Chief Minister's office said.

Rao hailed the victory of YSR Congress in the Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh. He telephoned Reddy to wish him, the release said.

Hoping that Andhra Pradesh achieves progress under the leadership of Reddy, Rao wished ties between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana would improve, it added. The BJP, on its own, was leading in over 290 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha.

YSR Congress was leading in about 150 seats in the 175-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

The ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has maintained lead at 41 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra till 1.30 pm. BJP at 23, Shiv Sena 18, NCP 4, and Congress 1 seat, AIMIM 1 and 1 independent candidate is maintaining the lead. 

Congress president Rahul Gandhi is trailing by around 6,000 votes in Amethi Lok Sabha. He is facing tough challenge by Union Minister Smriti Irani. 

Chandrapur: Union minister of state for home affairs and MP Hansraj Ahir (88,274) trailing by 6,164 votes in 5th round against Congress candidate Suresh Dhanorkar (94,438)

As per the recent trend, BJD of Naveen Patnaik is leading at 14 out of 21 seats while BJP has maintained lead at 7 seats of the state. 

BJD is also returning in the power in the fifth time in the state assembly. 

The BJP lead NDA is leading at 37 seats of Bihar pushing back UPA merely at 3 seats. As per the status at 1 pm, BJP was leading at 16 seats, JDU of Nitish Kumar at 15, RJD at 2 and Congress at 1 seat. 

The trends of 17 seats are available for Telangana by 1 pm. 

Here TRS seems to emerge as the largest party by maintaining lead at 9 seats while BJP follows with 4 seats and Congress at 3. The Muslim right wing AIMIM is leading at 1 seat. 

The BJP is leading in thirteen out of 57 Assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh, while the JD(U) is ahead in three seats, according to the initial Election Commission trends. Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein is leading by 7291 votes against his nearest rivalKhunang Kri of the Congress in Chowkham constituency, Namsaidistrict. 

BJP is all set to retain Jammu and Udhampur LS seats while a tough battle is continue in Ladakh. In Kashmir, NCP has maintained lead at all the three seats. 

The National Conference is leading on three Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, while the BJP has opened huge leads in two constituencies of the state. The former chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti is trailing at the third spot in the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, where the NC's Hasnain Masoodi is leading and Congress state president G A Mir is in second place.

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah is leading by 48,000 votes over the PDP's Aga Mohsin. Union minister and BJP leader Jitendra Singh are leading by over 2.37 lakh votes over Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh in Udhampur constituency. BJP's Jugal Kishore is leading by over 1.43 lakh votes against Raman Bhalla of the Congress from the Jammu seat.

In Ladakh constituency, journalist-turned-politician Sajjad Hussain and the BJP's J T Namgyal have exchanged leads several times since the counting began. Namgyal is leading by a margin of over 2,000 votes at the end of the latest round of counting. In north Kashmir's Baramulla constituency, NC candidate Mohammad Akbar Lone is leading by a margin of 15,600 votes against Peoples Conference's Raja Aijaz Ali. Former MLA and controversial Kashmiri politician Sheikh Abdul Rashid is in the third place.

The BJP had won three seats, two in Jammu and the Ladakh seat, in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, while the PDP had swept all three seats in the Valley. However, Abdullah had won the Lok Sabha poll to the Srinagar seat in 2017. PTI MIJ HMB

The Modi wave seems to cross 2014 marks this time as BJP has made a comfortable lead in 9 of the 10 seats in Haryana. 

The BJP is maintaining a healthy lead in nine out of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, as per trends available, with Congress' sitting MP Deepender Singh Hooda giving a tough fight to the saffron party's candidate in Rohtak. Barring Rohtak, where Deepender Hooda is leading with a margin of more than 13,000 votes over BJP's Arvind Sharma, the BJP is comfortably placed on the remaining seats.

Read more details https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/politics/534447-bjp-set-to-win-all-fou-seats-in-hp-as-leading-over-235-la 

BJP is all set to win all the 4 seats of Himachal Pradesh and 5 seats in Uttarakhand. 

The ruling BJP is leading in all the four Lok Sabha seats- Mandi, Kangra, Hamirpur and Shimla - in Himachal Pradesh, state election officials said. In Mandi, the sitting BJP MP Ram Swaroop of BJP was leading by over 2,37000 votes against his nearest rival Aashray Sharma of Congress, he added. The saffron party has also maintained huge lead at all the five seats of Uttarakhand. 

The ruling AAP is presently at 3rd position in 5 seats of Delhi. In 2014, AAP was second at all 7 seats of Delhi. 

The BJP was leading in all the seven seats in the national capital, with three of its candidates ahead by over one lakh votes, while the Congress and the AAP were trailing at the second spot in five and two seats respectively. Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, who contested from the Northeast Delhi constituency against Congress veteran and former chief minister Sheila Dikshit and AAP's Dilip Pandey, was leading with a maximum margin of over 1.29 lakh votes. 

The lone NDA ally from South - AIADMK is heading for total loss in Tamil Nadu. MK Stalin-led DMK is way ahead of ruling AIDMK in the Lok Sabha battle in Tamil Nadu by securing a lead on 22 seats out of 38 for which counting of votes began today. The election in the Vellore constituency was countermanded on April 16 by the Election Commission following the seizure of cash from a godown allegedly belonging to a DMK leader.

DMK's main rival AIADMK is ahead on just two seats, the trends showed. DMK's ally Congress is leading on 8 seats while CPI and CPI(M (CPI(M)) are ahead on 2 seats. Indian Union Muslim League is leading on one seat. 

BJP has summoned a meeting of its highest decision-making body today evening. After the meeting, PM Modi will address the party workers at 5.30 pm. 

The Parliamentary Board of BJP will meet today in the evening while Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address the party workers here at 5.30 pm, as Thursday's counting of votes showed the ruling party retaining power with an absolute majority. "The Parliamentary Board of BJP will meet today in the evening, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the workers at the party headquarters here at 5.30 pm," said the sources.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi headed to meet her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi. 

Amid a devastating outlook for the Congress as votes were counted on Thursday in the national election, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was seen driving to the home in Delhi of her brother Rahul Gandhi, the party chief.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to return to power with a spectacular mandate; his BJP will win a majority on its own and along with allies, cross 300, according to leads. The Congress and its allies are just above 100 in leads.

Rahul Gandhi is fighting a tough battle to keep Amethi, his constituency since 2004, against a strong challenge from the BJP's Smriti Irani. He is ahead in Wayanad. Priyanka is not contesting the elections this time. 

YSR Congress of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is heading for a landslide victory in the assembly elections and a spectacular performance in the Lok Sabha elections leads from Andhra Pradesh show. Of the 175 assembly seats in the state, he is ahead in 142, compared to the 27 of the ruling Telugu Desam Party. The majority mark in the assembly stands at 88. He is also leading in 24 of the state's 25 seats. The Telugu Desam Party of Chandrababu Naidu is leading in only seven.

For Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu -- who walked out of the NDA last year and became an interlocutor of the opposition -- the outlook could be grim. The leads indicate that the opposition's performance nationally has also fallen far short of expectation.   

Congress president Rahul Gandhi is facing a tough challenge in his citadel Amethi this time from Union Minister Smriti Irani. 

Besides his father and grandmother, Rahul Gandhi himself won Amethi for three consecutive times in 2004, 2009 and 2014. Congress president Rahul Gandhi is fighting a tough battle in Amethi, his constituency in Uttar Pradesh since 2004. As early leads came in, Rahul Gandhi was behind the BJP's Smriti Irani but he caught up later. Initially, Smriti Irani was leading but she trained for some time. She is again leading from Amethi by around 2,000 votes. 

Rahul Gandhi is also contesting from Wayanad in Kerala, where he has been leading since morning.

Amind bad news from across the country in Lok Sabha, Congress had won Panaji Assembly segment of Goa represented by former Defense Minister and CM Manohar Parrikar. Congress' Atanasio Monserratteon Thursday wrested Panaji Assembly seat, held by the late chief minister Manohar Parrikar, from the BJP and with a margin of over 1,775 votes in the by-poll held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections. The Panaji Assembly seat became vacant after the demise of former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who held the seat for nearly two-and-a-half decades since 1994.

The BJP had fielded Siddharth Kunkolienkar to retain the seat. Goa Assembly has a strength of 40 members out of which BJP currently has 12 legislators and enjoys the support of legislators from Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), Vijay Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and three independents. GFP and MGP each have three MLAs. 

Leading psephologist Yogendra Yadav on Thursday said that the political position of Delhi was almost clear. "The fight was who will be on the second position. The AAP has gone on the second position on five seats. It was in the second position in all the seats in 2014," he said. Presently BJP is leading on all the 7 seats of Delhi. The saffron party had won all the 7 seats in 2014. 

As the BJP is leading on over 280 seats, the party's top decision-making body - Parliamentary Board, is likely to meet on Friday evening at the party headquarters where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to make a speech. Top party leaders, including BJP president Amit Shah and some senior Union ministers besides Modi, are members of the parliamentary board, its highest decision-making body.

The board is likely to pass a resolution to thank voters for their support and also hailing Modi's leadership. The prime minister is also expected to address party workers. 

While BJP seems to retune in power with a thmping majority its lone ally in South is headed for defeat. NDA's lone ally in the south is facing DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in Tamil Nadu appeared headed for a clean sweep as it led in 35 of the 38 Lok Sabha seats in the state Thursday. The ruling AIADMK, which had registered a landslide in the 2014 elections under the leadership of its supremo late Jayalalithaa, is trailing in most of the 20 seats it contested as also its allies, including the BJP.

The AIADMK-led NDA is ahead in only three constituencies, according to the latest Election Commission trends. AIADMK's greenhorn and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam's son P Raveendranath Kumar was leading over Congress veteran EVKS Elngovan in Theni.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and People's Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti dropped down to the third position while National Conference's (NC) Hasnain Masoodi is leading from the Anantnag seat as of 11:30 am on Thursday. Indian National Congress' Ghulam Ahmad Mir is in the second spot and is giving a tough fight to the NC candidate in the counting phase.

Congress - JDS alliance seems to have failed to prevent Modi wave in the state. The saffron party is now leading at 23 seats, Congress at 3 and JDS in 1 seat. 

In 2014, BJP had won 21 out of 28 seats in the state. 

Within six months after voting Congress into power with a two-third majority, the voters in Chhattisgarh seems to have changed its mind. 

The BJP was ahead in nine of the 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh while the Congress was leading in two, as per the trends available so far. In the Raipur seat, state BJP vice president Sunil Soni was leading over Congress candidate and Raipur Mayor Pramod Dubeyby 21,368 votes.

In Durg seat, BJP's Vijay Baghelwas ahead of Congress nomineePratima Chandrakar by 29,869 votes. In Rajnandgaon seat, BJP's Santosh Pandey was leading over Congress rival Bholaram Sahuby 454 votes.

Chhattisgarh: BJP leads in 9 seats, Cong ahead in 2 https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/politics/534308-chhattisgarh-bjp-leads-in-9-seats-cong-ahead-in-2 

BJP seems to repeat her spectacular performance of 7-0 in Delhi. The saffron party is leading the trends in all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, with the Congress trailing in five constituencies and the AAP in two seats, poll officials said. Debutant Gautam Gambhir, Union minister Harsh Vardhan and sitting lawmaker Manoj Tiwari of the Bharatiya Janata Party were among early gainers.

Congress veteran Sheila Dikshit was on the second spot behind Tiwari, by a margin of 29,797 votes in North East Delhi while former MP J P Agarwal, pitted against Vardhan in Chandni Chowk constituency, was trailing by 8,764 votes. Agarwal has alleged that strongrooms were opened in "absence" of his counting agents.

Sitting BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma was leading against his Congress rival Mahabal Mishra by 37,387 votes in the West Delhi Lok Sabha seat, they said. BJP candidates were also leading in New Delhi, South Delhi and North West Delhi parliamentary constituencies.

Delhi: BJP leads in all seven seats, Cong second in two constituencies https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/politics/534307-delhi-bjp-leads-in-all-seven-seats-cong-second-in-two-constituencies 

Mamta Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress and BJP are engaged in a close fight in West Bengal with the TMC leading in 24 out of 42 Lok Sabha constituencies, while the BJP is ahead in 17 seats, as per initial trends of the Election Commission. The Indian National Congress (INC) is leading in one constituency, while the Left is yet to take a lead in any of the 42 constituencies.

Union Minister Babul Supriyo is leading in Asansol seat by 46,244 votes against Moon Moon Sen of AITC. Union Minister and BJP candidate S S Ahluwalia is leading by 10,546 votes against Mamtaz Sanghamita of AITC in Burdwan-Durgapur Lok Sabha seat. 

BJP which had won 8 out of 10 seats in 2014, is now leading at all the 10 seats. 

The state was at stake for both as Congress had fielded big guns including former CM B. S. Hooda from Sonepat. 

The BJP is leading in 10 out of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Jharkhand as per initial trends, officials said Thursday. Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha has established a comfortable lead of 28, 862 votes against his nearest Congress rivalGopal Sahu in the Hazaribagh Lok Sabha seat.

Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Sudarshan Bhagat is also leading against his nearest Congress's Sukhdeo Bhagat by 3,915 votes from Lohardaga (ST) seat. Former chief ministers Shibu Soren (JMM) and Babulal Marandi (Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik) are trailing in Dumka and Koderma seats. 

Naveen Patnaik's ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidates were leading in 21 and BJP nominees in six Assembly constituencies as per initial trends, officials said Thursday. BJP legislature party leader K V Singhdeo was trailing behind BJD's Saroj Kumar Meher in Patnagarh Assembly seat which the saffron leader represented in the outgoing House, they said. 

Ruling Congress party in Punjab is leading in 8 eight out of total 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP in two Lok Sabha seats each, as per the initial EC trends. The BJP is leading in Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur seats while the Aam Aadmi Party is leading from Sangrur seat in Punjab.

The Congress is leading in Amritsar, Faridkot, Anandpur Sahib, Jalandhar, Khadoor Sahib, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala seats while the Akali Dal is leading in Bathinda and Ferozepur seats. Akali Dal candidate and sitting MP Prem Singh Chandumajra is trailing from Anandpur Sahib seat while Congress candidate Manish Tewari is leading by 2,561 votes.

Congress party is now leading at 60 seats. The grand old party had got 44 seats in 2014 thus it seems to have improved but is much behind expectations. 

BJP is leading at 282 seats while NDA is leading at 336 seats. Thus BJP is going to get majority on its own. 

Union Minister Smriti Irani is leading with 1,000 seats in Amethi. In first round, Smriti Irani was leading but then Rahul Gandhi had maintained a lead of 1700 votes. 

BJP seems to emerge as the greatest political force in Uttar Pradesh. In the initial stage, NDA is leading at 53 in Uttar Pradesh followed by Mahagath Bandhan with 23 seats. 

Congress president Rahul Gandhi is now leading from both his seats - Amethi and Wayanad. 

Controversial BJP leader Pragya Singh Thakur is leading against Congress' Digvijay Singh by a margin of 3,105votes in Bhopal Lok Sabha seat of Madhya Pradesh, as per initial trends.

BJP's Krishna Pal Singh Yadav is leading by a margin of 1165 votes against Congress' Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna.

Congress candidate Nakul Nath, son of CM Kamal Nath, is ahead of BJP's Nathanshah Kawreti in Chhindwara seat by a margin of 1,520 votes. 

Except for Rohtak which Congress has retained in 2014, the BJP was ahead in all remaining nine seats in Haryana where early Election Commission trends were available Thursday. Union Ministers Rao Inderjit Singh (Gurgaon) and Krishan Pal Gurjar (Faridabad) were ahead in their respective constituencies. 

Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress was trailing in Sonipat. Hooda was trailing behind sitting MP Ramesh Chander Kaushik by a margin of 1,115 votes, as per early trends are given by the Election Commission. However, the former CM's son and sitting MP from Rohtak, Deepender Singh Hooda was leading over his nearest BJP rival Arvind Sharma from Rohtak. 

According to early trends, Congress president Rahul Gandhi is leading in Kerala's Wayanad constituency by over 5,000 votes.UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is also leading from Uttar Pradesh's Raebareli. Congress leader Digvijaya Sigh is trailing behind BJPs Pragya Thakur by over 3,000 votes in Bhopal. Besides, Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna and Vivek Tankha from Jabalpur are trailing.

In the initial reports, at least three BJP candidates are leading in West Bengal. Union minister Babul Supriyo of the BJP is leading by 3448 votes against Moon Moon Sen of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) from Asansol Lok Sabha seat, as per initial Election Commissiontrends. In Coochbehar Lok Sabhaseat, Nishith Pramanik of the BJP is leading by 1225 votes against AITC candidate Paresh Chandra Adhikary.

BJP candidate Locket Chatterjee is leading by 2175 votes over AITC candidate Ratna De Nag in Hooglyparliamentary constituency, the trends suggest. In Uluberia seat, Sajda Ahmed of the AITC is leading by 920 votes against Joy Banerjee of the BJP.

As counting of votes for 542 Lok Sabha seats went underway on Thursday, veteran actor Anupam Kher exuded confidence that India's future will shine with the results. "Today, the future of India will shine even brighter on this festival of democracy. Jai Ho," Kher tweeted.

The national president of BJP Amit Shah is leading in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat by over 19,000 votes against his nearest rival and Congress candidate C J Chavdaafter counting of the first round, election officials said. Gandhi Nagar has been a fort of BJP and Amit Shah is likely to retain it with a huge margin.

In Mizoram, the ruling Mizo National Front candidate C Lalrosanga is leading by 5,130 votes against his nearest independent rivalLalnghinglova Hmar in the lone Lok Sabha seat in the state, 

Sitting Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party(NDPP) MP Tokheho Yepthomi is leading against his nearest Congress rival L Chishi by 3,165 votes in the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland, officials said.

Congress's Bengaluru Central candidate Rizwan Arshad on Thursday hit out at his party's miffed lawmaker Roshan Baig stating that he has tried to help the Bharatiya Janata Party and attempted to sabotage his campaign. "Roshan Baig has tried to help the BJP and sabotage my campaign. But in his own constituency Shivaji Nagar, people have supported me overwhelmingly and blessed me. Workers of the Congress party have defied his diktats and supported me," Rizwan Arshad told ANI. 

The candidates of various political parties offered prayers for desired results on D day. Before their political fate comes out of electronic voting machines, leaders from parties across the political spectrum visited temples and offered prayers in cities across the country on Thursday morning. Former Mizoram Governor and Thiruvananthapuram BJP candidate Kummanam Rajasekharan offered prayers at Ayya Guru Ashram in Thycaud, Kerala.

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy offered prayers at God Ganesha Temple in Jayanagar in Bengaluru, while his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is debuting as JD(S) candidate from Mandya, visited Chamundeshwari Temple in Mysore. Bengaluru South BJP candidate Tejasvi Surya, who offered his prayers at a temple here in Karnataka, said: "I am sure we will win. I am confident I will be able to contribute to legislation and policy-making in this country."

Actor-turned-politician Ravi Kishan, who is fighting for the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat, performed puja at his residence in the city. "With the blessings of God Shiva, BJP will register a historic victory," he said. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who is facing Malegaon blasts accused and BJP candidate Pragya Thakur, for the Bhopal seat, also visited a temple in a city in Madhya Pradesh.

Confident over its victory in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls 2019 to which the counting is still underway, BJP has sent invites to over 20,000 party workers to get assembled at party's national headquarters at Deen Dayal Marg in New Delhi. 

According to sources, the saffron party has planned a grand welcome for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in advance as besides exit polls their internal surveys have predicted a second term. The winning MPs have been asked to reach Delhi by May 25, said a senior BJP leader. 

The counting of votes started at 8 am at 542 Lok Sabha seats on 23rd May. Election Commission of India has already clarified that the EVM votes will be counted first then five VVPATs from each Lok Sabha will be counted to cross verify electronic voting. This cross verification will delay the process of final result by around 6 hours. 

The Election Commission of India (EC) will begin counting votes at 8 am on Thursday on various counting centres across the country. 

The final results are likely to be delayed this time by four to six hours because of the introduction of additional Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) counting. In 2014, the results were declared between 3 to 6 pm but due to the counting of VVPATs, the final results are likely to be delayed by around six hours. Thus the final results will come in the late night of May 23. 

The Lok Sabha elections were held in seven phases across the 542 parliamentary constituencies from April 11 to May 19. Approximately 60 crore voters have cast ballots across 10 lakh booths in 29 states and seven union territories. 

The first update comes on completion of the first round of voting which is expected between 9 to 10 am from various parliamentary constituencies. 

For more updates stay on with us at

https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/politics/533066-live-results-lok-sabha-election-2019-ec-denies-oppositions-demand-to-count-vvpat-first

Among raising controversies on EVMs, BJP chief Amit Shahs has defended the machine and poll panels. He contended that there have been several reforms in EVMs and after the introduction of VVPATs, it has become safer. He also criticised opposition leaders for labelling baseless allegations on EVMs and Election Commission thereby insulting India at the international platform. 

Whosoever wins the elections, the sweets will be purchased and distributed. This is the reason the sweet sellers across the country are preparing for the D day of Indian democracy. 

Although exit poll projections are predicting that the NDA will retain power at the Centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after Thursday's counting of votes polled in the seven-phased Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is gearing up for a sweet celebration! The BJP headquarters in the national capital are all decked up and sweet shop owners in Chandni Chowk, which is famed for its 'mithais', say they have received large orders for different sweets.

One shop owner in Chandni Chowk said that a BJP leader has placed an order for 50 kilograms of 'pista badam burfi' with a lotus symbol. Another sweet shop in central Delhi has made special cakes with ladoos. which looks to be a mouthwatering treat. A special 7kg 'ladoo' cake along with nine similar cakes of 4-5 kgs each has been ordered for the celebrations, the shop owner said.

India's ruling coalition has promised to rev up growth, double farmers' income and boost infrastructure spending in the next five years after exit polls showed it would retain power when general election votes are counted on Thursday.

The exit polls have predicted an outright majority for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's alliancein the seven-phase election that ended on Sunday. However, such surveys have proved misleading before, and the main opposition Congress party on Wednesday dismissed them as fake. The coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), met in New Delhi on Tuesday confident of victory.

"The NDA has resolved to speed up economic growth and fulfil the needs of the people in the next five years of our government," Home Minister Rajnath Singh, a senior member of the BJP, told reporters. "We're committed to a strong, developed and inclusive India." Six of seven exit polls have predicted the NDA will comfortably exceed the majority mark of 272 seats in parliament's lower house.

The Telugu Desam PartyWednesday termed as "a dark day for Indian democracy", the Election Commission of India turning down a demand to count VVPAT slips ahead of the EVMsduring the counting process on Thursday. Reacting to the ECIsdecision, TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh said in a tweet, "A genuine and fair demand for transparency is chucked out the window without a reason.

A dark day for Indian democracy!" In another tweet, he said: "By ignoring the genuine demand of the majority of parties in the country to count 5 VVPAT slips first, the Election Commission has shown once again whose side it wants to take." About 22 Non-BJP parties, including the TDP, raised a demand for counting VVPAT slips first as soon as the counting process is taken up, and not at the end as per the existing practice. They wanted VVPATs of the entire constituency to be counted if any discrepancy was found in the count of VVPAT slips in five randomly-selected polling booths.

Claiming that the BJP-led NDA will fall short of a simple majority after the Lok Sabha poll results, the NCP Wednesday said party chief Sharad Pawar is playing a key role in the formation of an alternative regime. NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik also said Pawar has repeatedly made it clear that he was not a claimantfor the prime minister's post given his party's limited strength.

"We are sure there would be a hung House. The NDA is not going to get a simple majority," Malik told reporters. "Pawar has repeatedly maintained he is not claiming the (prime ministerial) post, but he is playing a key role in formation of an alternative (coalition) government," he added.

The NCP and its ally Congresswould secure more than 22 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, Malik said. The Pawar-led party will win the highest number of seats since its formation, he claimed. The party's best performance so far is winning nine Lok Sabha seats (eight in Maharashtra and one in Meghalaya) in 2009.

A day ahead of poll counting Odisha, PCC president Niranjan Patnaik Wednesday conceded that the Congress will not only not be (rpt not) able to form a government in the state on its own but may even lose its opposition status. Patnaik's statement indicates that BJP will take its place in the BJD-ruled state, which led senior Congress leadersto openly blame the party's stateleadership for the situation.

"We(Congress) will not be able to form the government in the state on our own. However, our performance will be better than in 2014," Patnaik told reporters here during an interaction reacting to exit poll predictions. The Congress had in 2014 bagged only 16 out of the total 147 seats in OdishaAssembly and had failed to open its account in the Lok Sabha polls. Different exit polls this time predicted one Lok Sabha seat and 15 assembly seats for the party.

As the Congress-JDS government in Karnataka led by H D Kumaraswamy completes one year on Thursday, the ruling coalition is on the edge with the Lok Sabha results widely expected to have a bearing on its stability. It was exactly one year ago that Kumaraswamy was sworn in as head of the coalition government after the heightened political drama that saw B S Yeddyurappa, the leader of the single largest party BJP, resigning as Chief Minister of a three-day-old government, unable to prove his majority in the assembly.

Kumaraswamy's swearing-in on May 23, 2018, saw a galaxy of top leaders and regional satraps in a rare public show of unity, perceived as a possible harbinger of a broad-based anti-BJP alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Exactly one year after that historic get together of leaders of non-BJP parties, that later came to be known as "mahagatbandan". The results of Lok Sabha polls on Thursday will determine the very fate of those who aspired to defeat the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led saffron party.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Wednesday said the Congress will accept the Lok Sabha election results with "humility", but maintained that exit poll projections have been wrong several times. Counting of votes of the just-concluded seven-phase polls will be done on Thursday.

He also accused the BJP of not doing issue-based politics and trying to polarise voters during the elections. "Prediction by exit polls have gone wrong several times. Good results (for the Congress) will come out tomorrow. We believe that the results will be in our favour.

"Whatever the results, we will accept them with humility," Gehlot told reporters after reaching here from New Delhi. He was on the same plane from the national capital as his predecessor Vasundhara Raje.

"I did not know 'Madam' (Raje) was flying in the same plane. She was sitting in first class and I was travelling in economy class. First class passengers are deboarded first and people in economy class later. "My turn came later, otherwise I would have greeted her. Perhaps, she has returned from abroad that's why people have come to welcome her," the senior Congress leader said.

Newly elected members of the 17th Lok Sabha will not be provided hotels as transit accommodation, but will be lodged in parliament's hostel -- the Western Court and its annexe building -- and various state bhawans, a top official said Wednesday. With the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha polls scheduled for Thursday, the newly-elected members are expected to start arriving in the national capital from Friday, and for that the secretariat has already started making arrangements.

At a press conference here, the Lower House's Secretary General Snehlata Shrivastava said the Lok Sabha secretariat has done away with the system of transit accommodation in hotels. This system, at times, invited criticism for the money it cost the exchequer.

"The newly-elected members will be accommodated in Western Court, its newly-built annexe and various state bhawans. Thus, the Lok Sabha secretariat has done away with the system of transit accommodation in hotels," Shrivastava said. Sources said that in the 2014 general elections more than 300 new MPs were elected, causing accommodation crisis as some former members had not vacated their official residences.

By doubting the electronic voting machines (EVMs) means that opposition parties are afraid of defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, said Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday. "Doubting EVMs means that opposition parties doubt the people and shows that they are afraid of losing. They know that they are losing and which is why they are raising such issues. People are irritated with them because of this kind of behavior," Javadekar told media personshere.

MHA says it has alerted states, UTs due to calls given in various quarters for inciting violence, causing disruption during counting.

In a shocking statement, AAP MLA from Greater Kailash Saurabh Bhardwaj has said that the decision of Election Commission of India not to change the process of counting will lead to 'civil war'. An engineer by training, Bhardwaj is one among the top leaders of AAP. He is presently AAP's national spokesperson and lives in South Delhi MP segment from Raghav Chaddha is contesting against BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri and Congress' Vijender.  

Prime Minister Narendra Modiand Congress chief Rahul Gandhi addressed more than 140 rallies each in the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections, the opposition leader scoring a tad better in terms of voter outreach by also holding eight press conferences. Modi addressed 142 rallies and Gandhi 145 in the fiercely contested elections that saw both leaders totting up many thousand miles as they crisscrossed the length and breadth of the country in a bid to reach out to the maximum number of people. 

Also Read: Election 2019: Modi addressed 142 rallies, Rahul 145 plus eight pressers

The Congress on Wednesday slammed the Election Commission for rejecting the demand of major opposition parties for 100 per cent counting of VVPATs in case if even one of them did not match with the selected sample and said the EC has lost its credibility. Reacting to the EC decision, Congressspokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporoters that the poll body's decision has not been formally communicated to them and that they were not hopeful of getting any detailed reason from for the rejection of their demand. 

Also Read: EC means

Strongly refuting the statement of 'bloodbath' by his former cabinet colleague and Bihar's strongman Upendra Kushwaha Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said warned a Tit for Tat. Speaking to media during dinner on Tuesday night, Paswan said although there is no such plan from the government but if anything happens there would be Tit for Tat. 

A special court here on Wednesday reserved its order on a complaint seeking a direction to the police to register an FIR against Congress president Rahul Gandhi on sedition charges. The complaint was regarding a statement made by Rahul during a public meeting, in which, he allegedly accused Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of "hiding behind the blood soldiers shed and doing dalali on their (soldiers) sacrifice".

Also Read: Special Court reserves order on complaint seeking FIR against Rahul Gandhi under sedition charges

Union Minister and BJP ally Ram Vilas Paswan Wednesday dubbed the opposition "sour losers" and claimed that their "desperation" over the VVPAT issue was an indication of their defeat in the Lok Sabha polls. Leaders of 22 opposition parties met the Election Commission on Tuesday ahead of the Lok Sabha election results and demanded verification of VVPAT slips of randomly-selected polling stations before the counting of votes begins Thursday. The EC on Wednesday rejected the demand.

"I have been saying for many months now that when the opposition heads towards defeat it starts complaining about EVM. Those opposing EVMs want to drag India back to the time when money and muscle power decided elections. The Supreme Court has heard the issue four times already. They are now concocting stories in the face of impending defeat," he said. "When you win, EVMs are alright. But when you lose, allegations about EVM manipulation arise. This kind of pessimistic attitude of the opposition will hurt the Constitution and also the Indian democracy," Paswan said.

Also Read: Opposition sour losers, desperation over VVPAT issue indication of their defeat: Ram Vilas Paswan

Counting of votes for 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradeshwill be held at 292 centres across 51 district headquarters on Thursday and results are expected by late evening, a senior election official said. Around 1,800 CCTV cameras have been installed at the counting centres where internet and wi-fi services will not be available, state Chief Electoral Officer V L Kantha Rao told reporters here on Tuesday.

Also Read: Elaborate arrangements in MP for LS polls counting

Congress leader A. M. Singhvi alleged that Election Commission of India is playing in the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He categorically alleged that 'Chunav Aachar Samhita' has become 'Modi Prachar Samhita'. 

Singhvi claimed that the 22 political parties of the country had met the ECI to press for the demand. "The poll body's decision to reject the demand is against the law and guidelines of VVPAT," said Singhvi. He claims that the law allows counting of VVPAT's and read out a ruling. 

The Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) dismissed all speculations on Wednesday that its legislators might desert the party after the dismissal of its president, Om Prakash Rajbhar, from the Uttar Pradesh cabinet. "There are reports in the media about our three SBSP MLAs. All the three -- Triveni Ram, Ramanand Baudh and Kailash Nath Sonkar -- are solid with the SBSP," Rajbhar said. "All have struggled together (for the party) and no amount of effort will help the BJP in succeeding in its designs. 

Also Read: SBSP dismisses reports of MLAs switching sides

The absence of RJD chief Lalu Prasad during campaigning in Bihar for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls was a "very big challenge", but the party has put up a "good fight" nonetheless, his son Tej Pratap Yadav said. Known for his signature one-liners and trenchant wit, this was for the first time, Prasad was not present in the elections as he is serving sentences in connection with fodder scam cases.

The former Bihar chief minister is currently admitted at a hospital in Jharkhand capital Ranchi on account of his poor health. The "lantern (RJD poll symbol) will be lit" at many places in the state on May 23, Tej Pratap said, though he felt that the result would be "surprising".

Also Read: Lalu's absence was big challenge while fighting polls, says son Tej Pratap

A delegation of over 22 political parties had submitted to the Election Commission to count the five VVPATs first and cross verify all the VVPATs if there is any discrepancy between electronic and paper votes. 

Also Read: Opposition's demands regarding EVM-VVPAT tally rejected by EC

The full commission was called up today to discuss the demand and decided not to change the process of counting of votes.