Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to retain power for a third consecutive term, but vote counts suggest it won’t be the landslide victory. Leads so far indicate a far closer contest than exit polls had predicted.
The INDIA opposition, led by the Indian National Congress, is making significant gains in various states and performing better than exit polls had projected.
A total of 543 seats are up for grabs in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the parliament. To cross the majority mark, a party or coalition needs 272 seats.
While no party reached the 272-seat majority on its own, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has crossed the majority mark with 292 seats and the opposition INDIA bloc is leading in 231 seats as per the Election Commission data at 11:30 PM.
Here are biggest election headlines so far:
Lok Sabha Election Results 2024 | Uttar Pradesh Shocker For NDA
In a major surprise, the INDIA Bloc is leading in Uttar Pradesh, with the BJP trailing behind. The INDIA Bloc is ahead in 43 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, while the BJP is leading in 33 seats. This is a major setback for the BJP, which had won 71 seats in 2014 and 76 seats in 2019.
One of the important seats where the BJP is trailing in Uttar Pradesh is Faizabad. The temple city of Ayodhya, which falls under the Faizabad seat, is seeing Samajwadi Party candidate Awadhesh Prasad leading while BJP's Lallu Singh is trailing.
Lok Sabha Election Results 2024 | Maharashtra Shocker For NDA
Maharashtra seems to be emerging as another area of concern for the BJP, with the BJP alone losing 10 seats over its tally of 23 the last time, despite contesting more seats this time. The NDA as a whole is suffering losses in the state, with the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) running neck and neck with the BJP in their individual tallies, while Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP are falling behind.
Overall, INDIA is ahead in 30 seats and the NDA on 17 at 11.30 PM.
2024 Lok Sabha Election Results | Sensex Down By Nearly 4,000 Points
The unexpected election result trends have sent shockwaves through the stock market, with the benchmark indices, S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50, plummeting by nearly 4,000 points.
The BSE Sensex was down 6.71 per cent or 5,602 points at 71,002, while the NSE Nifty 50 was down 6.89 per cent or 1,634 points at 12.15 am. This is the biggest single-day fall in Indian markets since the onset of the Covid pandemic.
Assembly Election Results | NDA Leading In Odisha And Andhra Pradesh
In Odisha, BJP triumphed as it crossed the halfway mark while Naveen Patnaik's ruling BJD was left behind. The party is leading in 78 of the 147 assembly constituencies, while the ruling BJD is ahead in 51 as per the data from ECI at 11:30 PM. The tug-of-war between BJP and BJD seems to end today with the Bharatiya Janata Party likely to form the next state government.
In Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu is set to take oath as the Chief Minister for the fourth time as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) sweeps the state in the 2024 state Assembly elections. The party contested the polls in alliance with BJP and Pawan Kalyan's JanaSena Party.
Kashmir Election Result 2024 | Two Former CMs On Losing Side
In Jammu and Kashmir, two former Chief Ministers, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti lost in their respective constituencies. Omar Abdullah lost to jailed Independent candidate Sheikh Abdul Rashid by over one lakh votes, while Mehbooba Mufti lost to the National Conference's Mian Altaf by over two lakh votes.
With Rashid lodged in Tihar jail in an alleged money laundering case, his campaign was run by his 23-year-old son, Abrar Rashid.
In Anantnag-Rajouri, Mufti suffered loss in the hands of the NC’s Altaf. While it was expected to be a close contest, Altaf, who wields massive influence among the Gujjar community, managed a massive lead.
