Results of Lok Sabha elections 2019 shall be out by the end of the day. Counting of votes begins at 8 am.
By end of day today, perhaps even earlier, India will have its say on who will administer the country for the next five years.
All exit polls have predicted that the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will return to power. If that happens, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the face of the BJP’s campaign, will win a second term in office.
At the national level, it was a battle between the NDA, led by the BJP’s Modi, and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), led by Congress president, Rahul Gandhi, who was, however, not the alliance or party’s declared prime ministerial face.
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PM Modi leads in Varanasi by over 11,000 votes
PM Narendra Modi is currently leading by over 11,000 votes in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.
Ravi Kishan leads in Gorakhpur
BJP’s candidate actor-turned politician Ravi Kishan is currently leading from Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency.
Sunny Deol takes lead in Punjab’s Gurdaspur
Actor-turned-politician BJP’s candidate Sunny Deol is leading in Punjab’s Gurdaspur.
Amit Shah leads in Gandhinagar
BJP national president Amit Shah is currently leading in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency.
Rahul Gandhi trails Smriti Irani in Amethi seat
Congress president Rahul Gandhi is trailing in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi Lok Sabha seat. Amethi has been one of the most high-profile constituencies in Lok Sabha elections 2019.
He is leading from Kerala’s Wayanad, the second seat he is contesting from.
Shashi Tharoor leads in Thiruvananthapuram
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and sitting MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor is currently leading in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat.
Rahul Gandhi will be our new Prime Minister, says Stalin
DMK president MK Stalin on Wednesday said that BJP-led NDA government at the Centre would be overthrown after the counting of Lok Sabha poll votes and Congress president Rahul Gandhi would become the new Prime Minister.
“This ‘Iftar’ is unique from the previous one. Because what we said is going to come true tomorrow, and the Central and state governments would go,” said Stalin, while attending an ‘Iftar’ party here.
“The exit poll is not the real one. It is manufactured at someone’s order. Rahul Gandhi would be our Prime minister if we get the numbers in our favour. We never change our mind. I said in the beginning. I would say it tomorrow as well. There is a possibility of going to Delhi at any time,” he said.
US says it is confident about fairness, integrity of Indian elections
The United States Wednesday said that it was confident in the fairness and integrity of the Indian elections and would work with whoever is the victor. “I would say from the US perspective, we are very confident in the fairness and the integrity of the Indian elections, and we will obviously work with whoever is the victor and whatever the outcome is there,” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus told reporters during an off-camera gaggle here.
Rahul Gandhi leads in Wayanad
Congress president Rahul Gandhi is currently leading in North Kerala’s Wayanad, the second seat he is contesting from.
BJP ahead in 22 seats, Congress in 15
Counting across voting centres has begun, at present the BJP is ahead in 22 seats, and the Congress is leading in 15 Lok Sabha seats.
First leads show BJP ahead in 6 seats, Congress in 2
As per first leads, BJP is ahead in six seats while Congress has taken lead in two Lok Sabha seats.
Fate of 8,040 candidates to be decided today
The fate of as many as 8,040 candidates will be decided on Thursday when the counting of votes polled for the 17th Lok Sabha elections is done.
Around 90 crore voters were eligible to vote in this Lok Sabha polls which were held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. As many as 13 crore of them were first-time voters.
According to the Election Commission of India data, 67.11 per cent voters exercised their right to franchise. This was the highest turnout in the Lok Sabha polls since independence.
Voting took place at 10.35 lakh polling stations across 36 states and Union Territories. Around a million polling staff was engaged in the smooth conduct of elections.
Counting on in over 4,000 counting centres
Counting of votes for the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections began Thursday morning across the country.
The counting exercise is on in over 4,000 counting centres amid concerns raised by opposition parties over alleged tampering of EVMs. They have asked the Election Commission to ensure transparency in counting.
Election Commission officials said results are expected only by late evening.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several union ministers, BJP chief Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi are among key leaders who contested the polls.
Most of the exit polls have predicted that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is on course to retain power for a second term.
However, the opposition parties have trashed results of the exit polls, claiming that the BJP will suffer severe drubbing due to rising unemployment, farm distress and slowdown in the economy.
Counting of votes begins
India gets the last word, counting of votes begins
All eyes on outcome in UP
After having swept the state in 2014, the BJP faces its strongest challenge in Uttar Pradesh with a formidable opposition alliance. Put together, the SP-BSP-RLD social base of Yadavs, Muslims, Jatavs and Jats (in western UP) could outnumber, on paper, the BJP’s social coalition in a range of seats.
The party, however, has banked on Modi’s popularity, its own support base of upper castes, smaller OBC and Dalit groups, and its organisational might to take on the challenge. The state sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha.
Watch out for battles of West Bengal and Odisha
Anticipating losses in UP and some other states, the BJP focused on expanding its presence in Bengal, which sends 42 Lok Sabha MPs. It has successfully become the principal opposition force in the state, and most observers believe its vote share will increase. The question, however, is if this will result in an increase in seats, and to what extent. In Odisha, too, the BJP launched a campaign offensive to wrest seats away from the BJD. Together, in 2014, the BJP had only won three of the 63 seats in the two states. The outcome today will be a measure of how much the party has penetrated the minds and hearts of people in the east.
Coming to a theatre in US: Indian election results, live
When the lights dim at around 9:30 pm US central time (8 am, Thursday in India), the audience at a cinema hall Minneapolis, Minnesota state, will be hit with six to eight news channels airing election results from India, all together on one screen.
That’s the plan, according to Ramesh Noone, an IT professional and a supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has organised what is being touted as America’s first cinema-hall watch party for an Indian election.
An estimated 150 people have already purchased tickets — at $15 a piece — but Noone said he expected more people to “walk in” going by the response he has received to flyers he sent out just a few days ago — “they went viral”.
Here’s what analysts say about BSP supremo Mayawati
Political analysts had virtually written off Mayawati, 63, after the BSP failed to open its account in the 2014 Lok Sabha election (in the 2017 assembly election it bagged merely 19 seats). But just when the chips were down for her, the Dalit leader decided to sew a strategic alliance with the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in Uttar Pradesh, jumping right back into reckoning.
If exit polls are anything to go by, the alliance is expected to make gains in the politically crucial state with various exit polls giving them seats in the range of 30-55 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. This could propel her into the role of a kingmaker in case of an unclear verdict.
Traffic in Delhi ahead of counting in Delhi
The Delhi Traffic police tweeted this morning that traffic in the city has been affected due to vote counting centre near Swami Narayan Marg.
Traffic Alert
Traffic remains affected on Swami Narayan Marg due to vote counting center. Motorist are advised to avoid Swami Narayan Marg and take Sunder Lal Jain Hospital road or Nimri Colony road instead of Swami Narayan Marg.
— Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic)May 23, 2019
Traffic Alert
Traffic remains affected on August Kranti Marg due to vote counting center at Jija Bai Industrial Training Institute for women. Kindly avoid August Kranti Marg.
— Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic)May 23, 2019
Counting of votes to begin shortly
In half an hour from now, counting of votes for Lok Sabha elections 2019 will begin. By end of day today, perhaps even earlier, India will have its say on who will administer the country for the next five years.
BJP’s Gorakhpur candidate Ravi Kishan offers prayers before results
Actor Ravi Kishan, who is fighting on the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat offered prayers as results of Lok Sabha elections 2019 will be announced today. Counting of votes to begin at 8 am.
BJP’s Gorakhpur candidate Ravi Kishan offers prayers before results
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Final results may be delayed by a few hours, here’s why
Officials of the Election Commission will count the votes cast across one million booths in all the 543 parliamentary seats spread across the country on Thursday. The date and place of counting votes are usually fixed at least a week before the schedule of the election is announced.
The selection of the five EVMs in every assembly constituency — there are 4,215 across India— will be done by a draw of lots in the presence of all the candidates. When the five EVMs are chosen from each of these segments, it would increase the VVPAT verification percentage from 0.44 to around 2%. The VVPAT system enables EVMs to record each vote by generating a slip.
The Election Commission’s guidelines say if there is any discrepancy in the vote count between EVMs and VVPATs, then the paper trail will prevail.
Confident of win: BJP candidate from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram
“For development of the state and welfare of its people, I think Kerala should move along with NDA government in Delhi. Now that Kerala is coming up in mainstream, I am very much confident that I’ll win in this election,” says Kummanam Rajasekharan, BJP candidate from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram.
Security tightened outside counting centres
Security has been tightened outside across counting centres in the country.
Security outside a counting centre in Karnataka’s Bengaluru
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ANI Photo
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Counting centre in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal
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ANI Photo
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Statewide alert in UP, Oppn asks cadres to stay vigilant
Amid controversy over security of EVMs, political parties resorted to posturing on the eve of counting of votes by asking their cadres to remain alert even as chief minister Yogi Adityanath sounded a warning that those attempting to foment trouble would be sternly dealt with.
The state police on Wednesday sounded an alert and made extensive deployment of forces at 77 counting centres across 75 districts. The state police headquarters issued directives to intensify vigil and ensure deployment at sensitive locations where violence is apprehended.
Moreover, victory processions have been strictly prohibited to avert any clash.
The alert was sounded after union home ministry raised apprehensions of violence in different parts of the country during counting. The ministry asked all the states and union territories to maintain law and order.
Battle of margins for political bigwigs
All eyes will be on Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, the day of counting of votes, when the fate of top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav and president Akhilesh Yadav, RLD chief Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary will be decided.
While in constituencies like Varanasi (Modi), Lucknow (home minister Rajnath Singh), Mainpuri (Mulayam), Rae Bareli (Sonia) and Azamgarh (Akhilesh), curiosity will be more about margins, in other seats like Saharanpur and Kanpur, the BJP is locked in a tough contest with the SP-BSP alliance.
Cong party workers asserting that the results would not be onesided as projected
Even as the atmosphere at the Congress headquarters remained sombre Monday morning, party workers rejected the exit polls and said May 23 would give results quite different from the projections.
Did you know? Rajyavardhan Rathore defeated CP Joshi by over 3 lakh votes in 2014
In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, BJP’s Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore defeated Congress veteran CP Joshi by more than 3 lakh votes.
Did you know? Barring 1977 and two terms from 1996, Rae Barely seat has always been with Congress
Barring 1977, when Raj Narain of the Janata Party emerged victorious, and two terms for BJP’s Ashok Singh from 1996, the Rae Barely seat of Uttar Pradesh has always been with the Congress.
Cong attacked PM for favouring crony capitalists throughout the campaign
Congress fiercely attacked the Prime Minister for his alleged corruption in the Rafale deal, and repeatedly invocated the “chowkidar chor hai (the watchman is the thief)” slogan. This was supplemented with repeated accusations that the Modi government essentially favoured a set of crony capitalists.
Did you know? Akhilesh Yadav is contesting from an East UP constituency for the first time
Akhilesh Yadav is contesting from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. This is the first time he is contesting from a constituency in East Uttar Pradesh.
Did you know? Chhindwara has elected a non-Congress candidate only once since 1957
Chhindwara has elected a non-Congress candidate only once since 1957 — in the 1997 bypoll when it elected BJP’s Sundar Lal Patwa.
These elections recorded the highest ever turnout in Indian history
The elections, held over seven phases, in 542 constituencies, witnessed the highest ever turnout in Indian history at 67.1% (tentative figure from the Election Commission) beating the previous record of 66.4% in the 2014 polls.
Did you know? In 1996, Vajpayee gave up Gandhinagar seat for Lucknow
BJP’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee won from Gandhinagar, Gujarat, in 1996 but chose to resign and retain the other seat he had won, Lucknow, in Uttar Pradesh. This forced a by-election, which was won by Vijay Patel, who defeated film actor Rajesh Khanna.
Did you know? Nitin Gandkari contested his first Lok Sabha elections in 2014
Nitin Gadkari, who has been in politics for more than four decades, contested his first Lok Sabha elections in 2014.
Did you know? CPI (M) won Asansol seat for eight consecutive terms till 2014
CPI (M) candidates won Asansol, West Bengal seat for eight consecutive terms from 1989 till BJP’s Babul Supriyo wrested it in 2014.
At national level, elections were a battle between NDA, UPA
At the national level, it was a battle between the NDA, led by the BJP’s Modi, and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), led by Congress president, Rahul Gandhi, who was, however, not the alliance or party’s declared prime ministerial face.
All exit polls predicted second term for NDA alliance
All exit polls have predicted that the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will return to power. However, exit polls often get it wrong and the actual results will only be known after the votes are counted.
Counting of votes today
India will have its say on who will administer the country for the next five years by the end of today.
Source: HindustanTimes