Poll officials at a counting centre for Lok Sabha elections in Shimla on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) surged ahead in very early trends, securing leads in over 250 parliamentary seats with the opposition INDIA bloc putting up a strong fight, leading in around 150 seats as the counting of votes for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections began on Tuesday morning after a gruelling election that was held in seven phases, staggered between April 11 and May 19.
As per the Election Commission of India, 64.2 crore voters, including 31.2 crore women, participated in the 2024 General Elections to elect 543 members of the Lok Sabha from over 8,000 candidates from more than 700 parties. Check out Lok Sabha Election Results 2024 LIVE UPDATES
Here are the top developments as of 10 a.m.:
1. The BJP bagged its first seat even before the counting began on Tuesday, with party candidate Mukesh Dalal elected unopposed from the Surat Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat. This followed the rejection of the nomination paper of the candidate set up by the Congress party and the withdrawal of nominations by other candidates.
2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trailing behind Congress’s Ajay Rai in the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal are leading from their constituencies. BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has also secured a lead over SP’s Ravidas Mehrotra in Lucknow. In Arunachal Pradesh, Kiren Rijiju is leading in Arunachal West.
3. Out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the INDIA alliance is leading on 44, while the BJP-led NDA is leading on 36 seats, as per early trends. The Samajwadi Party (SP) is ahead on 38 seats. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has a lead of over 2,000 votes over BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh in Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.
PTI INFOGRAPHIC | Lok Sabha Election Results 2024: Leading and Trailing at 10 AM#LSResultsWithPTI#LSPolls2024WithPTI#LokSabhaElections2024pic.twitter.com/BYxdnVBhjl
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 4, 2024
4. In Tamil Nadu, the ruling DMK took an early lead in several constituencies across Tamil Nadu. Party’s star candidates Kanimozhi (Thoothukudi), T R Baalu (Sriperumbudur) and Dayanidhi Maran (Central Chennai) were leading at the close of the count of postal ballots by 8.30 am. DMK allies including Congress’s Karti Chidambaram (Sivaganga) and Marxist party candidate Su Venkatesan (Madurai) had also gained the lead.
5. In Karnataka, the BJP was ahead in 11 seats, Congress in four and JD(S) in two as the counting of postal ballots was taken up first in 28 Lok Sabha seats. JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi (BJP) were ahead in the Mandya and Dharwad Lok Sabha segments, respectively. The initial trend shows a neck-and-neck fight between the Congress-led UDF and the CPI(M)-led LDF in Kerala.
6. In Rajasthan, BJP candidates are leading at 12 seats, Congress at 10 and CPI(M), Rashtriya Loktanatrik Party and Bharat Adivasi Party at one each. The trends are available for all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the State. In Maharashtra, the INDIA bloc is ahead in around 25 of the 48 contested seats. The BJP leads in 16 seats, the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) holds the lead in four seats, and the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) in one. NCP leader Supriya Sule is leading in Baramati. Ms. Sule has taken the lead over her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar, the wife of Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
7. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are locked in a close contest in West Bengal. Local news channels have reported that TMC was leading in three seats, while the BJP and the Congress is ahead in one seat each.
8. Of the 29 Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh, the BJP is leading on 23 seats, while the Congress is leading in Mandla. Omkar Singh Markam is leading against Union Minister and BJP candidate Faggan Singh Kulaste.
9. Out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, NDA is leading on 19 seats while the Mahagathbandhan on 10 seats.
10. Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty tanked in early trade on heavy profit-taking after a massive rally in the previous trade. The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 1,715.78 points to 74,753 in early trade. The NSE Nifty tumbled 539.1 points to 22,724.80.
