As the tallying progresses for the Lok Sabha polls, early indications up to 9 am suggest that the Bharatiya Janata Party is leading on 75 seats, with the Congress ahead on 25 seats, as reported by the Election Commission of India. The Samajwadi Party is leading on 8 seats, while AAP is ahead on 5 seats. Additionally, Telugu Desam is leading on 4, Hindustani Awa Morcha (Secular) on 1, and Janata Dal (Secular) on 2 seats, according to the ECI.
A massive 642 million people cast their votes in the Lok Sabha elections held over seven phases across a six-week period. The counting process commenced with the postal ballot papers under tight security measures. Concurrently, the counting for State Legislative Assemblies of 175 Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and 147 Assembly constituencies in Odisha, along with the results of bypolls in 25 Assembly constituencies, also commenced.
The Lok Sabha elections for 543 seats were conducted across seven phases. The Bharatiya Janata Party aims for a third consecutive term in power, while the Opposition, under the INDIA bloc, seeks to wrest power from the ruling party. Despite most exit polls predicting another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress party and its allies dismissed these forecasts as “orchestrated” and “fantasy,” maintaining that the INDIA bloc would form the next government.
Rigorous security measures have been implemented for the smooth conduct of the vote counting process, involving over 8,000 candidates in this general election. Additionally, two polls indicated that the BJP might further improve its numbers from the 303 seats it secured in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, where the NDA claimed 353 seats, with the BJP alone winning 303. Even before the vote counting began, the Bharatiya Janata Party secured one seat in the Surat Lok Sabha constituency.
The Lok Sabha elections were conducted over seven phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1.
