Rahul Gandhi takes responsibility for Congress' defeat in Lok Sabha polls

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address the nation on Saturday before going to meet President to submit his resignation. Here are the latest updates:

Latest Updates:

BJP demands resignation of Prithviraj Chavan

LK Advani wins from Gandhinagar

BJP wins all 26 seats in Gujarat

All 3 federal ministers and Shankersinh Vaghela lose

Modi wins in Vadodara by more than 500,000 votes, also wins in Varanasi, defeating Arvind Kejriwal

Murli Manohar Joshi defeats coal minister Jaiswal

Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio wins Lok Sabha polls

Jaswant Singh loses in Barmer

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) bagged six Lok Sabha seats in Telangana.

Shatrughan Sinha wins from Patna Sahib

Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar loses

Sonia Gandhi wins from Rae Bareli

Maneka Gandhi has won from Pilibhit

Trinamool wins 11 out of 14 seats declared in Bengal

Farooq Abdullah loses in Srinagar

Lalu's wife, daughter trailing

A. Raja defeated in Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu

Nandan Nilekani loses from Bangalore South seat

Kamal Nath wins from Chhindwara

Dinesh Trivedi wins from Barrackpore

Mehbooba Mufti wins from Anantnag

Prakash Jha loses, again

Historic victory, says Jayalalithaa

Arun Jaitley loses in Amritsar

Shashi Tharoor wins in Thiravananthapuram

Ghulam Nabi Azad loses in Udhampur

Kirron Kher wins in Chandigarh

V.K. Singh wins in Ghaziabad

Hema Malini leads in Mathura

Rahul Gandhi wins from Amethi

Shatrughan Sinha leads, Prakash Jha trails

Varun Gandhi wins from Sultanpur

Sushilkumar Shinde trails in Solapur

Naveen Patnaik leads in Hinjili

Praful Patel loses from Bhandara-Gondiya, Maharashtra

Jayalalithaa wave sweeps across Tamil Nadu

Paswan leads in Hajipur

Jaitley trails in Amritsar

Jaswant Singh leads in Barmer

RLD chief Ajit Singh loses from Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh

AAP leads in Sangrur, Punjab

Sharad Yadav trails in Madhepura

Uma Bharti leads in Jhansi

Mulayam Singh leads in Mainpuri

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Gujarat

By Mahesh Trivedi

The Congress rout seemed imminent in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Gujarat at 10.30 am on Friday with the saffron party candidates, including Narendra Modi, emerging triumphant in 10 of the 26 Lok Sabha seats that went to polls on April 30, and were leading in the remaining 16 seats.

Celebrations started throughout Gujarat from 10 am as, say BJP leaders, the appointment of a Gujarati becoming PM has become a certainty.

Shockingly enough for the Congress, of the three Gujarat-based federal ministers who were sure to win, Bharat Solanki has lost in Anand, and Dinshaw Patel (Kheda) and Tushar Chaudhary (Bardoli) were trailing.

Former federal minister Shankersinh Vaghela (Sabarkantha) is also much behind hios BJP rival.

A jubilant Paresh Rawal (Ahmedabad East), Bollywood star, who was ahead of his rival commented: Mahatma Gandhi had given us independence in 1947 nad now Modi has given second independence”.

A consolation came to the Congress in by-polls for seven assembly seats where it was faring well.

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Andhra Pradesh

By P S Jayaram

Rising from the abysmal depth of being politically written off in the aftermath of the division of Andhra Pradesh, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N Chandrababu Naidu is all set to romp home in Seemandhra to form the first government in the residuary state with unexpected margin.

The TDP, which has been out of power since 2004, was virtually written off by political pundits as a spent force post-bifurcation. YSR Congress was the new buzzword in political circles, particularly in Semandhra, and its leader Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, despite facing serious corruption charges, was the new youth icon.

Naidu, however, regained lost ground and with development as his mantra for Seemandhra combined with a clever mix of populism in announcing waiver of farmers’ loans, among other sops, is within striking distance of grabbing power. His last minute alliance with the Modi wave-driven BJP also paid rich dividends. The TDP-BJP combine is certain of forming the government in the residuary state having bagged 61 of the 175 Assembly seats and leading in another 43 constituencies in Seemandhra.

For the YSRC, which depended on the sympathy factor (for former chief minister late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy) to work in its favor, it was a disappointing finish after having showed sparks of brilliance in by-elections and even in the recently held local bodies’ polls. Jagan, who spent all his time conducting mass contact programs with the people coming out of jail on bail, failed to get the pulse of the people.

It was clearly a case of development, the need of the hour in the residuary state of Seemandhra including setting up a capital city, versus sheer populism ushered in by late YSR and sought to be emulated by his son Jagan. Naidu’s track record as a ‘performing’ chief minister during his nine year tenure between 1995 and 2004 obviously weighed heavily on his side.

It was also a case of experience against a novice. Jagan’s political and administrative acumen still remain untested. A beaming Naidu himself said: “I have a track record of performance. I have the experience of leading a state. Does Jagan have it?” That about sums it all as to why the people of Seemandhra opted for the TDP, or to put it more aptly, for Naidu to be at the helm of affairs in the residuary state.

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Mumbai

By Nithin Belle

The Congress-NCP combine suffered a humiliating defeat in the six parliamentary constituencies of Mumbai, with the BJP and the Shiv Sena winning three seats each.

In a complete reversal of the 2009 general elections – when the Congress won five seats and the NCP one in Mumbai – the UPA partners were dumped unceremoniously by the electorate in India’s financial and commercial capital.

Milind Deora, the Congress candidate from Mumbai south – and a junior minister in the outgoing Manmohan Singh council of ministers – lost to his Shiv Sena rival Arvind Sawant, despite the presence of a strong Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) candidate, Bala Nandgaonkar. Meera Sanyal, a former banker, came a poor fourth, getting less than 35,000 votes.

Another shocking defeat for the Congress was in Mumbai north-central, where Priya Dutt, the sitting MP – and daughter of yesteryear Bollywood actors Sunil Dutt and Nargis –was trounced by the BJP’s Poonam Mahajan, daughter of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.

Rahul Shewale, a young Shiv Sena candidate won the Mumbai south-central constituency, defeating the sitting Congress MP Eknath Gaikwad by about 100,000 votes.

Another sitting Congress MP to face defeat was Sanjay Nirupam, who lost by a massive 425,000-plus votes, to the BJP’s Gopal Shetty in Mumbai north constituency.

Gurudas Kamat, another sitting Congress MP, lost to the Shiv Sena’s Gajanan Kirtikar by more than 175,000 votes in Mumbai north-west. And in Mumbai north-east, Kirit Somaiya of the BJP avenged his 2009 defeat by sitting MP Sanjay Patil of the NCP, winning by a more than comfortable margin.

Interestingly, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) failed to impress the Mumbai electorate and all the candidates were trounced by their rivals. While Mayank Gandhi was the only AAP candidate to reach the 50,000-vote mark, others including Medha Patkar and Phiroze Palkhivala found it difficult to reach that mark.

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Kerala

By TK Devasia

Shashi Tharoor dashed the BJP’s hope of opening its account in Kerala by defeating O Rajagopal at Trivandrum. Rajagopal, who maintained a steady lead till the final rounds, lost the election by 14,500 votes. Tharoor had won the seat in the last election by 99998 votes.

Tharoor is among the five ministers to win the election. His ministerial colleagues who won the election are K V Thomas (Ernakulam), Kodikkunnil Suresh (Mavelikkara), K C Venugopal (Aleppey) and Mullappally Ramachandran (Vatakara). Thus all ministers from Kerala in the Manmohan Singh ministry have won the election. The remaining two ministers- AK Antony and Vayalar Ravi are members of the Rajya Sabha.

Apart from the ministers, three sitting MPs of the Congress have also managed to retain their seats. They are Anto Antony (Pathanamthitta), M I Shanavas (Wayanad) and M K Raghavan (Calicut). Three sitting MPs have lost. They are K Sudhakaran (Kannur), P C Chacko (Chalakkudy) and K Dhanapalan (Trichur). The latter two had swapped the seats.

Two partners of the Congress in the UDF-the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Kerala Congress (M)-have also retained their Malappuram, Ponnani and Kottayam seats while RSP a new entrant in the UDF has won the Quilon seat. The final UDF tally is 12. The UDF had won 16 seats in 2009.

The CPI (M) suffered a big setback with its politburo member M.A Baby facing defeat at Kollam. He was defeated by friend-turned-foe N K Premachandran of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) by 37649 votes. The CPM drove RSP to the UDF fold by denying seat to the party. The Janata Dal, which was given the Kottayam seat following the outcry over the denial of seat to the RSP, suffered a humiliating defeat. JD candidate Mathew T Thomas was drowned by Jose K Mani of the Kerala Congress (M) by a massive margin of 119471 votes.

The CPI, which was allotted four seats, has managed to win one seat. Only two of the five independents the CPM fielded have won. They are Innocent at Chalakkudy and Joyce George at Idukki. The CPM, which contested 10 seats, has won in Kasargod, Kannur, Palghat, Alathur and Attingal.

C N Jayadevan of the Communist Party of India, the second largest constituent of the opposition Left Democratic Front, has wrest the Trichur seat from the Congress by defeating K Dhanapalan by 38227 votes. The seat was won by P C Chacko in 2009 by 25151 votes.

E T Mohammed Basheer of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has brought the first victory for the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front by winning the Ponnani seat by 25410 votes. He defeated Congress rebel V Abdurahiman, who contested the election as a CPI (M) independent. Basheer had won the seat in the 2009 election by 82684 votes.

The first Lok Sabha election result in Kerala has gone in favour of the opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist). Former Health Minister P K Sreemathy has wrested Kannur seat from the Congress by defeating K Sudhakaran by over 6500 votes. Sudhakaran had won the seat in the 2009 elections by 43151 votes.

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Maharashtra

By Nithin Belle

The BJP along with its allies made a clean sweep in Maharashtra, winning 42 of the 48 seats in the general elections, its best performance in the state.

The BJP won 23 of the 48 seats, while the Shiv Sena won 18 seats. A junior partner scored a victory in one seat. The Congress-NCP combine, which has been ruling Maharashtra since 1999, was shocked by the humiliating defeat in the general elections.

The saffron wave swept through Congress-NCP strongholds including Mumbai, western Maharashtra and Marathwada. The BJP-Sena managed to wrest all six seats from the Congress-NCP in Mumbai, all four seats in the Mumbai metropolitan region, all 10 seats in Vidarbha and all three seats in the Konkan.

Prominent UPA ministers including Sushilkumar Shinde (Solapur) and Praful Patel (Bhandara-Gondiya) were defeated by their BJP rivals. Nitin Gadkari, the former BJP president – who contested parliamentary elections for the first time from Nagpur – won the seat with a massive 250,000-plus seat margin, while Gopinath Munde, senior BJP leader, retained his Beed parliamentary seat.

The BJP has demanded snap polls in Maharashtra following the defeat of the UPA in the state and called on chief minister Prithviraj Chavan to hand over his resignation.

Assembly elections in the state are due to be held in October. The BJP-Shiv Sena was in power in Maharashtra for just one term between 1995 and1999.

While the Congress-NCP suffered a humiliating defeat, winning just six seats (as against 25 seats in 2009), other parties failed to make any headway. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which was confident of winning a few seats in the state, failed to open its account.

The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) also could not win a single seat in the state.

Narendra Modi, who will take over as Prime Minister, campaigned extensively in Maharashtra. Both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi also addressed several rallies.

Maharashtra is the second most important state, sending 48 seats to the 543-seat Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament. UP sends the largest contingent of 80 MPs.

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Delhi

The BJP appeared set to wrest all seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital from the Congress, with the AAP in the second spot and the Congress at a poor third.

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Harsh Vardhan was leading by more than 52,000 votes in Chandni Chowk over AAP’s Ashutosh.

Law and Communications Minister Kapil Sibal, who had won twice from Chandni Chowk, was in the third position.

Congress candidate Ajay Maken was at the third spot in New Delhi where BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi was on the victory lap. Aam Aadmi Party’s Ashish Khetan was second.

AAP’s Rakhi Birla, who was a minister in the 49-day AAP government in Delhi, also trailed to BJP’s Udit Raj in Northwest Delhi with Krishna Tirath of Congress lagging behind to both.

In West Delhi, BJP’s Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma was leading over AAP’s Jarnail Singh and Congress’ Mahabal Mishra.

The story was similar in South Delhi where BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri was on the victory lap over AAP’s Devinder Sehrawat and Congress’ Ramesh Kumar.

In East Delhi, BJP’s Maheish Girri led over AAP’s Rajmohan Gandhi and Congress’ Sandeep Dixit, son of former chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

In Northeast Delhi, BJP’s Manoj Tiwari was at the first place, AAP’s Anand Kumar at the second. Jai Parkash Agarwal was at the third spot.

In 2009 the Congress had bagged all seven seats.

The Lok Sabha trends appeared to reiterate the message of the 2013 assembly elections when the BJP finished at the top bagging 31 of the 70 seats, leaving 28 for the Aam Aadmi Party and eight for the Congress.

AAP’s Chandni Chowk candidate Ashuthosh congratulated the BJP. “We have come out as the second largest party in Delhi.”

Added Delhi’s former AAP minister Girish Soni: “The election was a learning experience for us. But the people have supported us.”

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which bagged 28 seats in the state assembly and governed the national capital for 49 days, is currently at the second position in all seven seats here.

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Uttar Pradesh

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made a stunning comeback in Uttar Pradesh as it surged ahead in 67 of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats in Friday’s vote count in the state.

The party has gained unassailable leads in most of the constituencies and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi led Aam Aadmi Party’s chief Arvind kejriwal in Varanasi by more than 100,000 votes, officials said.

As per the vote count so far, BJP president Rajnath Singh (Lucknow) and leaders Murli Manohar Joshi (Kanpur), Uma Bharti (Jansi), Kalraj Mishra in Deoria and retired General V.K. Singh were ahead in their constituencies.

Party leaders Maneka Gandhi and her son Varun Gandhi also led in Pilibhit and Sultanpur respectively.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won just 10 seats from the state in the 2009 Lok Sabha election.

State unit president Laxmikant Bajpayi told IANS the results were on expected lines. He credited party workers and Modi for the astounding results.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi led in Rae Bareli and her son, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi maintained a margin of over 12,000 votes over his nearest rival, BJP’s Smriti Irani, in Amethi.

The Congress led in only two seats in the state and it was pushed to a poor third in all other seats. The party won 22 seats in the 2009 polls.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) have been thrown off the political radar by the voters of the state. The ruling SP led in just seven seats, down by 15 seats as compared to its 2009 tally.

The major constituencies where it is leading are Allahabad, Mainpuri, Azamgarh and Kannauj.

SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is contesting from both Mainpuri and Muslim-dominated Azamgarh, senior party leader Reoti Raman Singh is contesting from Allahabad and Dimple Yadav, wife of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, is SP candidate from Kannauj.

The BSP seems to be facing the worst ever performance in its electoral history in recent past, with the party trailing in all seats.

According to the vote count in the first five hours, the BJP got 42.6 per cent of the total votes polled, the SP got 23.9 per cent and the BSP 19.3 per cent.

The Congress got only 7.3 per cent of votes polled, while the AAP managed a bare 0.8 per cent of the votes.

In case the BJP maintains its position, the saffron party will register its best ever performance in the state. In 1998, the party won 57 seats in an undivided Uttar Pradesh which then had 85 seats.

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Karnataka

Infosys co-founder and technocrat Nandan Nilekani of the Congress party was trailing BJP’s Ananth Kumar by over 35,000 votes in Karnataka’s prestigious Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency as counting of ballots cast in the general election was in progress.

“Kumar has been ahead of Nilekani from first round and surging ahead in other assembly segments of the vast parliamentary constituency to maintain a healthy lead,” a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman told IANS here.

Nilekani, who was hand-picked by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to contest from the seat even before he formally joined the party, failed to make inroads in Kumar’s stronghold despite extensive campaigning.

The tech czar quit as the chairman of the state-run Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to contest the election.

With the constituency registering low turnout (55.69) -- though higher than the 44.74 percent in the 2009 election, Kumar appears to have benefited from 10.95 percent increase in voting and from the Modi wave.

Nilekani made optimal utilisation of technology and social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to woo voters.

Nilekani, who declared assets worth a whopping Rs.7,770 crore in the affidavit he filed, is the richest candidate across the country.

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Assam

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Friday said he would tender his resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, saying he takes “full responsibility” for the party’s electoral defeat in the state.

With counting trends of votes cast in parliamentary elections showing the BJP leading in seven out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam, Gogoi told a private TV channel in Guwahati: “I take full responsibility. We are going to accept the people’s mandate with all humility. I am going to tender my resignation to the Congress president.”

Gogoi, however, said the Congress would retain power in Assam in the 2016 assembly election.

“I have seen late prime minister Indira Gandhi losing elections and again storming back to power. There are wins and defeats in politics,” Gogoi said, adding that there could be several reasons for the defeat.

State Congress president Bhubaneswar Kalita echoed similar sentiments.

“It is a collective responsibility of everyone in the Congress. We all are ready to resign, if needed,” Kalita said.

Asked about the reasons for the poor show, Kalita said it was too early to comment.

“We are waiting for the final results and we will sit down and discuss the reasons,” he said.

The trends in the 14 Lok Sabha seats indicate that the BJP was leading on seven seats, followed by the Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) in three seats each. An independent candidate was leading in another seat.

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Rajasthan

The BJP is heading for a big win in India’s desert state of Rajasthan, early trends show.

The BJP was leading in 24 of the 25 seats where leads were available till 9.30 a.m.

However, in Barmer, expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who is fighting as an Independent, was leading over his BJP rival Col. Sonaram.

Prominent BJP leaders who were leading included sitting Bikaner MP Arjun Ram Meghwal, and Dushyant Singh, son of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, from Jhalwar-Baran.

The Congress, which had 20 members in the last Lok Sabha election from Rajasthan, was recording one of its worst defeats in the state’s history.

Union ministers Sachin Pilot (Ajmer), Bhanwar Jitendra Singh (Alwar), Girja Vyas (Chittorgarh) and Chandresh Kumari (Jodhpur), and party leader Raj Bala Ola (Jhunjhunu) were trailing.

“It is just the beginning... we hope to recover and perform better,” said Congress leader Sushil Sharma.

“We hope to win on all the 25 seats,” said state BJP vice president Onkar Singh Lakhawat.

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Jammu and Kashmir

Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference and Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress were trailing in Srinagar and Udhampur Lok Sabha constituencies respectively, while the PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti was leading in Anantnag.

BJP’s Jugal Kishore was leading in Jammu, while Muzaffar Hussain Baig of the PDP was leading in Baramulla.

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Haryana

The BJP-HJC alliance was leading in seven out of 10 Lok Sabha seats in early trends.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates were leading in six seat and Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) president Kuldeep Bishnoi was leading in the Hisar seat.

The BJP led in Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Sonipat, Bhiwani-Mahendergarh and Faridabad seats.

The ruling Congress was leading on the Rohtak seat where Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s son Deepender Hooda is the Congress candidate.

The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) was leading on two seats of Sirsa and Gurgaon.

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Tripura

CPI-M candidates were Friday heading for victory in the two Lok Sabha seats in Left-ruled Tripura.

Forest and Rural Development Minister Jitendra Choudhury was leading by 140,000 votes over Sachitra Debbarma of the Congress in the tribal reserve Tripura East seat.

In Tripura West, trade union leader Sankar Prasad Datta was ahead by 120,000 votes over Congress rival Arunoday Saha, former vice chancellor of Tripura (Central) University.

In all, 25 candidates contested the two Lok Sabha seats in Tripura.

Counting of ballots is in progress at 36 counting centres in 13 places across Tripura.

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Bihar

The NDA won nine seats in Bihar and was leading in 22 more constituencies as officials Friday counted the votes polled in the elections for the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats.

The United Progressive Alliance was ahead in seven seats and the ruling Janata Dal-United led in only two seats.

Candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies Lok Janshakti Party and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party won Gaya, Siwan, Begusarai, Sheohar, East Champaran, West Champaran, Patna Saheb, Sasaram, and Nawada while forging ahead in Saran, Patliputra, Jehanabad, Valmikinagar, Khagaria, Hajipur, Madhubani, Jhanjharpur, Ara, Karakat, Munger, Maharajganj, Aurangabad, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Jamui, Banka, Buxar and Ujiyarpur.

The Congress won Kishanganj and Supaul seats, its ally Nationalist Congress Party was leading in Katihar and the Rashtriya Janata Dal won Araria seat and led in Bhagalpur and Madhepura seats.

LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan was ahead of JD-U candidate and sitting MP Ram Sunder Das in Hajipur, and his actor-turned-politician son Chirag Paswan was ahead of Bihar assembly Speaker and JD-U candidate Udai Narain Choudhary in Jamui.

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad's wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi trailed in Saran seat, while his daughter Misha Bharti also trailed in Pataliputra.

JD-U president Sharad Yadav also trailed in Madhepura.

Lok Sabha Speaker and Congress candidate Meira Kumar lost from her traditional Sasaram constituency, while former Kerala govenor and Congress candidate Nikhil Kumar trailed in Aurangabad.

Actor-turned-politician and sitting Patna Saheb MP Shatrughan Sinha (BJP) retained his seat by more than one lakh votes over Congress candidate Kunal Singh, but former union minister and BJP candidate Shahnawaz Hussain trailed in Bhagalpur.

In 2009, the NDA won 32 seats - the BJP 12 and JD-U 20. Now both parties are contesting by themselves. The Congress won two seats and the RJD four seats. Two seats were won by Independents.

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Manipur

Ruling Congress party took lead in one of two Lok Sabha constituencies in Manipur while opposition Naga Peoples Front (NPF) was ahead in the other, official said here.

In the Inner Manipur constituency, Congress candidate and incumbent Lok Sabha member Thokchom Meinya Singh is leading by 20,000 votes over Moirangthem Nara Singh of the Communist Party of India.

In tribal reserve Outer Manipur constituency, NPF candidate Soso Lorho is leading by 25,000 votes over his Congress rival Thangso Baite.

A total of 18 candidates are contesting from Manipur’s two seats.

The NPF is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led-National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

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Punjab

The first popular electoral outing for senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley started on a wrong note as he lost from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat to Congress candidate Amarinder Singh by nearly 90,000 votes.

Amarinder, a former chief minister of Punjab, claimed that his victory was a clear verdict against the ruling Akali Dal-BJP combine in the state.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led in four of Punjab’s 13 Lok Sabha seats as officials counted the millions of votes across the state.

The AAP leads came from Patiala, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib and Faridkot.

West Bengal

The ruling Trinamool Congress seemed set to sweep the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal, the BJP signalled its rise as a force while the CPI-M led Left Front was virtually pushed to the margins, latest trends in the vote count indicated.

The Congress, however, was putting up a stubborn fight to hold on to its area of influence.

Of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the Trinamool candidates were ahead in 33, on way to coming up with their best performance in the state, bettering the 19 seat tally the Mamata Banerjee-led party grabbed in 2009.

The Congress was leading in five and the Bharatiya Janata Party in three seats. The Communist Party of India-Marxist, the major partner in the Left Front which ruled the state for 34 long years without a break till 2011, was maintaining a slender lead in only the Raiganj seat in north Bengal.

In the previous Lok Sabha polls in 2009, the then Trinamool Congress-Congress- Socialist Unity Centre of India-Communist (SUCI-C) alliance had won 26 seats. The Trinamool had bagged 19 and the Congress six seats, while the SUCI-C won in one constituency.

The Left Front had got 15 seats, with the CPI-M securing nine. The other LF partners triumphed in half a dozen constituencies. It is likely that the LF would end up with its worst show since its formation in 1977.

The BJP’s best performance so far was in 1999, when it bagged two seats - but in alliance with the Trinamool. This time, BJP had fought all the 42 seats in the state on its own.

So long, the BJP’s vote percentage of 12 was the highest in the state, but there are strong indications that it may end up with at least three-five percent more.

Bollywood singer and BJP candidate Babul Supriyo was ahead in Asansol while his party colleague S.S. Ahluwalia has left behind his opponents including former Indian soccer captain Bhaichung Bhutia of Trinamool. Another BJP candidate Birendra Bara (Oraon) was leading in Alipurduar.

Among the Trinamool candidates who are in the lead are former railways minister Dinesh Trivedi (Barrackpore), party supremo Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee (Diamond Harbour), state party chief Subrata Bakshi (Kolkata South), former union minister Sudip Bandyopadhyay (Kolkata North), Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grand nephew and Harvard don Sugata Bose (Jadavpur), and former union minister Sougata Roy (Dum Dum).

Celebrity nominees of Trinamool, who are in the lead, are actress Sandhya Roy (Medinipur), actor Tapas Pal (Krishnanagar), Satabdi Roy (Birbhum), and Arjuna awardee former Indian soccer captain Prasun Mukherjee (Howrah).

Amid an all-round dismal show, CPI-M central committee member Md. Salim was leading over his opponents in Raiganj.

Another Marxist candidate Muzaffar Hossain was in a neck and neck race with Congress nominee and president Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit Mukherjee in Jangipur. However, latest reports said Mukherjee had pushed ahead.

State Congress president and union minister Adhir Chowdhury was maintaining a substantial lead over his rivals in his old constituency Baharampur, while another union minister Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury was occupying the pole position in Maldah South.

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Nagaland

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio was heading for victory as he was leading by around 2,68,000 votes in the lone Lok Sabha constituency in the state against Congress candidate K.V. Pusa.

Counting of the votes is in progress in the state.

Rio’s Naga People’s Front is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.

In all, three candidates, including an Independent, contested for the lone Lok Sabha seat from Nagaland.

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Odisha

The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) was ahead in nine of 21 Lok Sabha constituencies and 17 assembly seats in Odisha, officials said.

Among prominent BJD candidates for the Lok Sabha who are leading were members of the outgoing parliament Tathagata Satapathy, Bhartruhari Mahatab and Prasanna Kumar Patsani.

Congress candidate and former chief minister Giridhar Gomang was leading in Koraput Lok Sabha constituency.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took lead in the Hinjili assembly constituency in Ganjam district over Congress’s Sibaram Patra by a margin of 1,942 votes, the officials said.

State Congress president Jayadev Jena was trailing in Anandpur assembly seat.

Simultaneous elections took place for 21 Lok Sabha and 147 assembly seats in the state.

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK appeared to sweep the state thanks to a Jayalalithaa wave across the state.

As per the trends available Friday noon, AIADMK is leading in 37 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state and the BJP is trailing in two.

If the trend continues, AIADMK may turn out to be one of the largest parties in the 16^th Lok Sabha after the BJP and the Congress.

Already party cadres have started their victory celebrations at AIADMK’s headquarters.

“The AIADMK has done extremely well. The party seems to have bettered its own expectations.

“People seems to agree with her views on various issues advocated strongly by her like the Cauvery river water sharing, Mullaperiyar dam dispute with Kerala, attacks on Indian fishermen by Sri Lanka and others,” Ramu Manivannan, professor of political science in the University of Madras, told IANS.

Looking ahead, Manivannan said AIADMK may not be part of the new government at the centre, but its leader J. Jayalalithaa will certainly be in a position to influence the policies of the new government.

He said DMK’s poor show is not mainly due to the infighting between M.K. Alagiri and M.K. Stalin, both sons of party president M. Karunanidhi.

“The party has not fared well in northern Tamil Nadu where Alagiri has no influence. His influence is only confined to southern parts of the state,” Manivannan said.

People feel the DMK has not espoused the state’s cause as strongly as Jayalalithaa has done, he said.

Dhaya Alagiri, son of former DMK leader and union minister Alagiri, tweeted that it was not surprising that AIADMK swept the polls.

DMK, the major opposition party in the state, has not established lead in any of the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu.

The party’s leading lights like A. Raja, Dayanidhi Maran, T.R. Baalu and others are trailing to their respective AIADMK rivals.

Going by the trends, the Congress is facing a total washout as per pre-poll expectations.

The BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has established leads in two seats.

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Meghalaya

Former Lok Sabha speaker and National People’s Party (NPP) candidate Purno Agitok Sangma and sitting Congress MP Vincent H. Pala are leading in Tura and Shillong constituencies in Meghalaya.

Counting of votes is in progress.

Sangma is leading by 30,000 votes against Congress candidate Daryl William Cheran Momin.

Sangma, who is also the NPP chief met BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and assured him of his support in forming the NDA-led government.

Former union minister Vincent H. Pala is leading by a margin of 25,262 votes against Independent candidate P.B.M. Basaiawmoit in the Shillong constituency.

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Goa

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday took leads in Goa’s both Lok Sabha seats, officials said.

Narendra Savoikar of the BJP leads Congress’ Aleixo Reginaldo by a slender margin of 1,428 votes in the Catholic-dominated South Goa seat, a traditional Congress bastion.

In the North Goa constituency, BJP’s Shripad Naik is leading by 55,209 votes.

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Puducherry

Union minister V. Narayanasamy of the Congress Friday trailed by 5,200 votes in the lone Lok Sabha seat from the Puducherry Union Territory, officials said.

Narayanasamy’s nearest rival is R. Radhakrishnan of the All India NR Congress party.

He had earlier established lead over R.Radhakrishnan.

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Around 66 per cent of the 814 million electorate voted between April 7 and May 12 across the country to elect a new 543-member Lok Sabha.

Exit polls at the end of the staggered polls have predicted a win for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

A total of 8,251 candidates, including 668 women and five transgenders, contested the battle for the 16^th Lok Sabha. The contestants included 3,234 independents.

Friday’s results will determine the political fortunes of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi (Vadodara, Varanasi), Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and Rahul Gandhi (Amethi), Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav (Mainpuri, Azamgarh), Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav (Madhepura), BJP leaders Arun Jaitley (Amritsar), Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal (Varanasi).

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