#ElectionResults2019: NDA takes early lead in trends

BJP+ 150

CONG+ 63

OTH 39

The Election Commission has started counting of votes for the general election results of 2019 that will decide the fate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bid for a second term.

At the national level, it was a battle between the NDA (National Democratic Alliance), led by the BJP’s Modi, and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), led by Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The BJP also faced a stiff challenge from the Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav’s SP-BSP Gathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. The election has been dubbed as a referendum on Modi with several opposition parties uniting to form an anti-BJP bloc, although they failed to seal a formal alliance. Congress, Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP, Sharad Pawar’s NCP, Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP, MK Stalin’s DMK, Deve Gowda’s JD(S) Left Parties, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, TMC, RJD, among others have also come together to protest against alleged EVM tampering.

The parties demanded that VVPAT slips be counted first to ensure greater transparency.

After the Election Commission rejected the demand of counting VVPAT slips first, the parties mounted vigil around the counting centres across India where the EVMs are being kept in strong rooms. The counting exercise will begin at 8am, capping the two-month long election process which witnessed high-octane campaigning and charges of tampering EVMs and violations of the Model Code of Conduct. Trends are expected to be available shortly thereafter. However, the results this time are likely to be delayed due to tallying of VVPATs with EVM, which is being done for the first time.

Inputs from news18