The Congress-led UPA is all set to retain power at the Centre after putting up an impressive performance in states like AP, TN, WB and UP to overwhelm the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections 2009.
The UPA was ahead in 241 constituencies with Congress alone leading in 194 seats. The ruling Front is just short of a little over 25 seats for the magic figure of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
The NDA was leading in 154 seats with BJP ahead in 115 seats, while the Third Front was leading in 83 seats, Fourth Front ahead in 28 seats and other in 32 seats.
Of the declared results, the UPA has won 27 seats while the NDA has won 20 seats, the Third Front has been reduced to six, while others have won in three seats.
Vindication of our policies: Congress
The Congress exulted over its victory saying it was a vindication of its policies.
Manmohan Singh will be the first Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after a full five-year term with the Congress having nominated him as its candidate for the top post, first time it had done in its history.
The Congress’ performance was spectacular in Kerala where it routed the Left Front and dealt a severe blow to the Marxists in West Bengal with help from ally Trinamool Congress.
The Left has been virtually wiped out of these states with it leading in only 12 seats out of the total 42 in West Bengal, while the Congress-TMC combine leading in 18 seats.
In the Left’s another bastion Kerala, out of the total of 20 seats, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is on course to a stunning victory, having won eight of the 11 Kerala seats for which results had been announced and leading in another eight.
The stunning story of Lok Sabha Elections 2009 was the superb comeback made by the Congress in Uttar Pradesh with it leading in as many as 21 seats.
The BSP is leading in 21 seats, SP in 22 seats while the BJP is ahead in only 14 seats.
The credit for the turnaround for the grand old party in India’s most populous state will surely be credited to Rahul Gandhi who was the most vocal votary of going it alone in UP so as to build the party from within.
The other game changer states were Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where the UPA, contrary to expectations, has done exceedingly well with the Congress leading in 26 seats as against just 12 seats for the TDP.
In Tamil Nadu too, the DMK-Congress alliance is emerging triumphant with them leading in 21 seats, something that would come as a surprise to all pollsters and not just Jayalalithaa, whose party is leading in only 12 seats.
The Congress also swept Delhi, did exceedingly well in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand.
BJP concedes defeat
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh on Saturday conceded that he had not anticipated his party`s poor electoral showing.
"The BJP`s performance in the results is very unexpected. The success for the NDA that we had hoped for has not materialised. The reasons for this will be discussed later," Rajnath Singh told reporters.
However, murmurs have begun in the party against the idea of projecting Narendra Modi as the next in line for being PM after Advani has backfired.
State wise trends/results
UP - Total seats: 80
In what could be one of the biggest surprises of election 2009, in Uttar Pradesh the SP and the Congress are doing extremely well – SP is leading in 22 seats, while the Congress is ahead in 21 seats for which tends are available. Shockingly, the BSP is ahead in 21 seats. The BJP is ahead in only 14 seats.
Rahul Gandhi, as expected, is leading in Amethi as is Sonia Gandhi from Raibareli. BJP president Rajnath Singh has won from Ghaziabad.
Mulayam and Kalyan Singh are leading from Mianpuri and Etah respectively. Also Varun Gandhi, MM Joshi, Lalji Tandon are leading from Pilibhit, Varanasi and Lucknow respectively.
Bihar - Total seats: 40
In what is coming as extremely bad news for Lalu Prasad Yadav, his party, the RJD is facing a rout in Bihar. The NDA is sweeping the polls in the crucial state that will send 40 MPs to the Parliament.
Of the total leads available, the NDA is ahead in 32 seats while the RJD-led alliance is ahead in just five seats. It’s a near total clean sweep for the NDA led by Nitish Kumar in the state.
Interestingly, of the seats in which RJD is leading two are being contested by party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav. However, Ram Vilas Paswan and George Fernandes are trailing from Hajipur and Muzaffarpur respectively.
Andhra Pradesh - Total seats: 42
In Andhra Pradesh YS Rajshekhar Reddy is holding fort as per the trends. The Congress is leading in 26 seats while the TDP-led alliance is ahead in only 10 seats. The Congress has already won in one seat.
Surprisingly, Praja Rajyam Party is doing well with it leading in two seats. Of the prominent candidates from the state Union minister Renuka Choudhary is trailing from Khamam.
Delhi - Total seats: 7
Trends available so far suggest that the Congress is doing very well and is leading in six seats in the national capital. It has already bagged one seat here.
MP - Total seats: 29
Although the BJP is not doing as well as expected, it is still leading in 14 seats and has won one seat, while the Congress is ahead in 12 seats and has won one seat.
In MP Congress’ Jyotiraditya Scindia is ahead in Guna, while seven-time MP Kamal Nath is leading from Chindwara in MP.
From the BJP, Sumitra Mahajan and Kailash Joshi are leading from Indore and Bhopal respectively.
Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj is also leading from Vidisha.
Tamil Nadu - Total seats: 39
The other big surprise are the results that are emerging from Tamil Nadu as the DMK led front is doing extremely well there, with it leading in 15 seats and already bagging six seats. The AIADMK has won two seats and is ahead in only 11 seats.
Surprisingly, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is trailing from Shivanganga after leading early on.
MK Azhagiri, DMK president M Karunanidhi`s son, is leading by 4,000 votes in Madurai over his nearest rival P Mohan of CPI(M).
Karnataka - Total seats: 28
As expected the BJP is doing well in Karnataka with it winning 10 seats leading in seven others, while the Congress is ahead in six seats and has won one. The JD-S is has won one seat and is ahead in two seats.
Of the prominent candidates from the state, HD Kumaraswamy has won from Bangalore South while JD-S supreme HD Deve Gowda is leading from Hassan.
However, senior Congress leaders Margaret Alva and Janardhan Poojary are trailing from Karwar and Mangalore respectively.
Rajasthan - Total seats: 25
In the desert state, the Congress has won three seats and is ahead in leading in 17 seats while the BJP is ahead in only five seats.
Congress candidate from Ajmer in Rajasthan Sachin Pilot is leading against BJP candidate Kiran Maheshwari.
Congress candidates from Pali Badriram Jakhar and Tarachand Bhagora from Banswara are leading against their BJP rivals Pushp Jain and Hakaru Maida respectively in Rajasthan.
PCC president CP Joshi is leading in Bhilwara constituency against BJP`s sitting MP VP Singh.
West Bengal - Total seats: 40
The Left is facing one of its biggest challenges in its bastion with the Congress-TMC combine doing extremely well in the state.
The Congress-led front is ahead in 18 seats while the Left is leading in 12 seats.
Trinamool Congress candidate Ambica Banerjee is ahead of Swadesh Chakraborty of CPI(M) in Howrah Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal.
Kerala - Total seats: 20
In Kerala, the LDF is facing a rout with it trailing in 16 out of the total of 20 seats in the state. The LDF has so far won two seats and is leading in only two others.
The UDF is emerging as the clear winner in this southern state. It has won five seats and is ahead in nine.
Amongst the prominent candidates Shashi Tharoor is leading from Thiruvanathapuram. Union Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed is leading against his CPI(M) rival TK Hamsa in Malappuram constituency.
P Karunakaran (CPI-M) is leading over Shaihda Kamal (INC) in Kasargode.
Assam
In Assam, Congress is ahead in five seats while the BJP-led alliance is also winning in five seats, as per trends available so far.
Chhattisgarh
In the Naxal violence hit state, the BJP is doing well as expected. The party is ahead in eight seats as per early trends while the Congress is leading in three seats.
Gujarat
In the land of Narendra Modi, BJP has won two seats so far and is ahead in 16 others compared to Congress which has won one seat and is leading in seven. Among prominent candidates here, BJP’s LK Advani is leading from Gandhinagar.
Haryana
In Haryana, the Congress is heading for a clean sweep with its candidates leading in nine seats over their rivals.
Himachal Pradesh
The BJP is looking to bag all four seats in the hilly state. The party has already won one seat and is ahead in three others.
J&K
In Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress and the National Conference (NC) combine is sweeping with the NC and the Congress leading in three and two seats respectively.
NC patron Dr Farooq Abdullah is leading in the Srinagar constituency.
Maharashtra
Another state that is witnessing a neck-and-neck fight is Maharashtra. While the Congress-NCP alliance has won two seats here and is leading in 21 others, the BJP-Shiv Sena combine is giving an equal fight, with it too leading in 20 seats.
Among prominent candidates, BJP’s Ram Naik is trailing from Mumbai North. Congress’ Priya Dutt is ahead in Mumbai North Central and Petroleum Minister Murli Deora is leading from Mumbai South.
The counting is being held at over 4,000 counting halls across the country during which the fate of 8,070 candidates will be known. Counting began at 08:00 hrs in all 28 states and seven union territories. Votes polled in elections to state assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim are also being counted simultaneously.
A party or combine needs 272 seats in the 545-member Lok Sabha to form a government.
A little over half of the 71.377 crore registered voters cast their ballots through Electronic Voting Machines in the five-phased elections that began on April 16 and ended on May 13.
In all, 8,070 candidates, including from 46 national, and state parties, contested in the elections to 543 LS seats. Two members are nominated from Anglo-Indian community.