Modi leads NDA to thumping victory in Lok Sabha polls, set to return as PM for second term

The NDA is so far leading in whopping 340 seats, moving ahead towards forming the government at the Centre for the second consecutive term.

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The Congress-led UPA once again failed as the Rahul Gandhi-led key opposition surrendered in the polls by keeping themselves ahead in just 93 seats.

Other parties are leading in 109 seats.

Leadership of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, charisma of her sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, seemed to have failed to enthuse voters in the Hindi heartland as well as other parts of the country.

Even the much-touted `Nyay’’ scheme promising a payment of Rs. 72,000 every year to the most poor families failed to find favour with the targeted sections of the society.  

Rahul Gandhi himself received  surprise in Amethi where he is still trailing behind BJP's Smriti Irani. Rahul is a sitting MP from Amethi.

Amethi is considered as a key Congress and Gandhi clan bastion.

Even as Rahul Gandhi fails to win from Amethi, he will still represent his party in the Parliament as he is nearing victory in another Lok Sabha seat in south India- Wayanad.

He is far ahead of his opponents in the southern seat where he is fighting for the first time in his career.

In Varanasi, PM Narendra Modi is looking comfortable and he is expected to win by a record margin of over 4 lakh votes.

This is the second time Modi is contesting from Varanasi.

'Gathbandhan' candidate from the Samajwadi Party (SP) Shalini Yadav is currently positioned on the second number with 1,88,143 votes, while the Indian National Congress candidate Ajay Rai is on the third position with 1,45,544. 

Modi, whose first tenure as PM witnessed steps like demonetization and GST implementation, completely nullified criticisms made by the opposition as he said in his first reaction following the win that this victory reflected the 'win' of the country.

Notably, there are five Assembly seats in the Varanasi constituency. Out of the 18,54,541 voters in this parliamentary constituency, the rural area of Sevapuri Vidhan Sabha seat polled the maximum number of votes at 63.39 per cent while there was 54.71 per cent voting in Varanasi North, 58.16 per cent voting in Varanasi South, 52.42 per cent voting in Varanasi Cantt and 58.12 per cent voting in Rohniya Vidhan Sabha seat.

Apart from Modi, there are a total of 26 candidates in the poll fray, including the grand-old-party's Ajai Rai and Shalini Yadav from the SP. While Modi and Congress are fighting their second electoral tussle, Yadav is representing the SP-BSP-RLD 'gathbandhan.'

In 2014, Modi had registered a stunning victory by gaining the support of 5,81,022 voters, whereas Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal finished second in the poll race with a backing of 2,092,38 voters.

Rai, who had been an MLA from Varanasi's Pindra Vidhan Sabha segment, had polled 75,614 votes and was at third spot. Bahujan Samaj Party's Vijay Prakash Jaiswal had won 60,579 votes and stood fourth while SP candidate Kailash Chaurasia with 45,294 votes had to be contented with the fifth position.

In Uttar Pradesh this time, the SP-BSP alliance was maintaining its lead on 22 seats while the BJP was ahead on 57 seats.

BJP's Bengal gains

In West Bengal, Bharatiya Janata Party triggered a storm and even put up a strong challenge to state CM Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress as the right-wing party is leading in 16 seats. The TMC is ahead in 26 seats.

The Congress is ahead in just one seat.

The Left Front failed to open an account in the state where they had once ruled for 35 years.

Key TMC candidates Mala Roy, Abhishek Banerjee, Mimi Chakraborty and Sudip Bandyopadhyay are ahead in their respective seats in Kolkata South, Jadavpur, Diamond Harbour and Kolkata North.

Voters in desert welcome BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party was leading on 24 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan, while its ally Rashtriya Loktantrik Party was ahead in one and the Indian National Congress was trailing on all, as the general election results trickled in on Thursday.

Rajasthan had voted in two phases. Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota and Jhalawar-Baran went to polls in Phase 4 that was held on April 29, Monday.

The remaining Lok Sabha seats-- Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa, Nagaur-went to poll in the fifth phase on May 6, Monday.

The BJP was leading in Jodhpur where Union Minister of State Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was ahead by 68,261 votes, leaving behind Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav.

Union MoS Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore from Jaipur Rural was leading by 91,493 votes against Congress' Krishna Punia.

In Barmer, the BJP's Kailash Chaudhary was leading by 47,750 votes leaving behind Congress candidate Manvendra Singh, who is the son of BJP veteran Jaswant Singh. Manvendra had joined the Congress ahead of the 2018 state Assembly elections.

The Congress had won 99 seats out of 200 in the Rajasthan assembly elections. Ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) had won one, which made it possible for the Congress to form the government in the state.

The overall polling percentage was just over 66 per cent.