• Modi Wave sweeps the Nation; Mahagathbandan fails to stop BJP onslaught
• BJP Parliamentary Board meeting later today. PM likely to take oath on May 26

New Delhi: Just after 11 am today, as trends have stabilised, the NDA is leading in as many as 347 seats. The BJP-led NDA is almost certain to cross 340 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. Voting was held for 542 seats as election to Vellore seat has been countermanded.

At 2.30 pm, the UPA was leading in 87 seats with Congress leading in 52 seats. Other parties are leading in 105 seats.

PM Narendra Modi is likely to take oath on May 26 as the Prime Minister for the second term. In 2014 too, he took oath as PM on May 26 at 6 pm.

Modi will become the first non-Congress Prime Minister to return to power after a full five-year term. In 2014, Narendra Modi’s BJP became the first party since Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress in 1984 to win a full majority on its own; in 2019, it looks set to become the first party since Jawaharlal Nehru’s Congress to return with a majority of its own.

This remarkable feat has been powered by a surge in the BJP’s vote share almost everywhere across the country — a staggering achievement given the party had already set an almost impossibly high bar for itself in 2014.

Among the major States where it has a presence, the BJP has got more votes than in 2014 in Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal. In large parts of the country, the BJP’s opponents can no longer claim the BJP does not have the support of the majority — in a dozen big States, the party has received more than 50% of the vote share.

While the final results are still hours away, the BJP workers have already started celebrating their sure-to-be victory. BJP cadre gathered at the party headquarters in New Delhi to rejoice on the occasion.

In Varanasi, Prime Minister Modi is leading by over 3 lakh votes and BJP President Amit Shah was leading by over 5 lakh votes in Gandhinagar.

The BJP is doing extremely well in the Hindi heartland, its strong bastions, as well as in the east and in the west. Both in Odisha and West Bengal, the two States where the BJP and its President Amit Shah have focussed to expand the party’s base, it is doing well.

The Rahul Gandhi-led Congress’ performance appears to be dismal, with the party struggling in both Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where the party has won assembly elections just four months ago.

The only relief for the Congress is Punjab and Kerala, where the party-led UDF appears to be sweeping the poll. This appears to be tandem with the party leaders’ assessment that party could do well due to the presence of Rahul Gandhi as a candidate in Wayanad.

The most disappointing for the anti-BJP camp has so far been the performance of the Mahagathbandan in Uttar Pradesh where the SP-BSP-RLD alliance was expected to give a tight fight to the BJP which won 71 of the 80 seats in 2014. Going by the general view that the party that captures Uttar Pradesh would rule India, the BJP may be heading for a landslide victory in the 2019 election.

The NDA appears to be sweeping Bihar also.

The BJP is holding on to its absolute dominance in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana along with the hill States and is winning number of seats in Karnataka, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

However, the regional parties in the southern States have contained the BJP’s race and disappointed the party leadership in its ambition to grow as a formidable force, except in Karnataka. DMK, which is in alliance with the Congress in Tamil Nadu is sweeping the State while YSRCP is ahead of TDP in Andhra Pradesh and TRS is continuing its dominance in Telangana.

In the campaign, Modi has dominated the scene as the BJP focussed on his image as a strong and decisive leader and the issues of national security.

Karnataka Assembly bypoll results

Along with the LS Poll results, the result of two Assembly segments of the State-Kundgol in Dharwad district and Chincholi in Kalaburagi district, which went to the bypolls on May 19, were announced today.

Congress candidate Kusuma Shivalli won from Kundgol, while BJP candidate Dr. Avinash Jadhav won from Chincholi.

The Kundgol assembly segment fell vacant following the death of Municipal administration Minister C.S. Shivalli while Chincholi seat became vacant after Dr. Umesh Jadhav of the Congress quit the seat and the party and joined the BJP.

Dr. Umesh Jadhav, who contested from Kalaburgi (SC) LS seat from Kalaburagi, was all set to defeat Veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge in a high voltage contest, as both the BJP and Congress considered winning from this seat as a prestigious issue.