Summary

  • The governing BJP of Narendra Modi has swept back to victory with a resounding majority of well over 300 seats

  • The re-elected PM said his party would "never give up" on its ideals and culture

  • Opposition Congress president Rahul Gandhi accepted defeat and congratulated the prime minister on his win

  • The election was seen as a referendum on Mr Modi, a polarising figure adored by many but also blamed for divisions

  • With 900 million eligible voters, the election for India's lower house of parliament was the largest vote the world had seen

  • More than 2,000 parties and 8,000 candidates are contesting 543 seats. A party or coalition needs at least 272 MPs to form a government

  1. A tale of two politicianspublished at 05:53 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    The southern state of Andhra Pradesh is awaiting results from not one but two elections - the vote for the parliament and the state assembly happened to coincide.

    And trends show that the opposition YSR Party is leading in both the polls - and the governing Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is trailing.

    The fate of two of India's best known regional politicians hangs on this ballot.

    Chandrababu NaiduImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Chandrababu Naidu

    One is Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister and head of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Once an ally of Prime Minister Modi, Mr Naidu quit the coalition last year and the two have been at loggerheads since, even exchanging the occasional barb.

    Jagan Mohan ReddyImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Jagan Mohan Reddy

    The other is Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of a former chief minister. Like his father, Mr Reddy was a Congress party member. He was also a Lok Sabha MP.

    But he was sidelined after his father's death and his bid to lead the party in the state was rejected. He broke away and floated his own party, which has now allied itself with the BJP.

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  2. Rahul Gandhi headed for an embarrassing defeat?published at 05:50 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    Is the leader of India's main opposition Congress party Rahul Gandhi headed for an embarrassing defeat?

    Amethi in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh has long been known as the "home constituency" of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty which has dominated Indian politics for decades.

    And it looks as though Mr Gandhi's rival Smriti Irani from the ruling BJP is pulling ahead there.

    Rahul GandhiImage source, Getty Images

    The 48-year-old Mr Gandhi is a three-term MP from this town and was seeking a fourth term.

    But even if he loses this seat, he won't be out of parliament.

    He's also standing in Wayanad in the southern state of Kerala. The BJP accused Mr Gandhi of being scared of losing Amethi to their candidate Smriti Irani, who put up a tough fight in 2014.

  3. Deora trailing in 'posh' South Mumbaipublished at 05:46 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    Congress party's Milind Deora is trailing in South Mumbai - a constituency known to include some of India's elite, including business tycoon Mukesh Ambani and several Bollywood stars.

    Deora was considered to be popular among the people. In a video released ahead of voting, Mr Ambani and billionaire banker Uday Kotak endorsed his candidacy. But the appeal seems to have failed.

  4. The Prime Minister is cementing his lead in Varanasipublished at 05:39 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

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  5. The BJP leads in more than 300 seats, trends showpublished at 05:36 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    Screenshot
  6. Meanwhile in Orissa...published at 05:35 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    The BJP is leading in at least 10 seats in the eastern state of Orissa, a region of India where the party had hoped to make inroads.

    The BJP won just one of the 21 seats in 2014, but the party has aimed to increase its tally, partly because of possible anti-incumbency, or the tendency to oust those in power, against the ruling regional BJD.

    The BJD has governed the state uninterruptedly for nearly two decades.

    The lead shows that BJP president Amit Shah's strategy to win more states in eastern India seems to be working. The party was expecting to lose some seats in important states like Uttar Pradesh, where it won 71 out of 80 seats in 2014.

    The BJP planned to make up for the losses in eastern India, and that is what seems to be happening.

  7. The BJP is also forging ahead in Maharashtrapublished at 05:28 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

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    The western state of Maharashtra, with a population equal to that of Mexico, sends 48 MPs to parliament - second only to Uttar Pradesh in the north.

    A relatively prosperous state, it is home, on one hand, to Bollywood, thriving factories and farms, and on the other, malnourished children and neglected tribespeople living in abject poverty.

    In 2014, the state was swept by the National Democratic Alliance - a coalition between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP, the right-wing regional Shiv Sena party and another smaller party - which won 42 seats.

    This performance comes despite serious issues in the state.

    BBC Marathi's Mayuresh Konnur says an agrarian crisis due to severe drought and farmer debt as well as a massive caste based agitation were serious concerns for the BJP in the state.

  8. The battle in Lucknowpublished at 05:23 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    Rajnath SinghImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Rajnath Singh

    It's a three-way contest in Lucknow, the capital of the bellwether state of Uttar Pradesh.

    India's Home Minister and BJP candidate, Rajnath Singh, is up against Congress party's Acharya Pramod and Poonam Sinha from the Mahagatbandhan or a "grand alliance" of regional parties.

    The 73-year-old Mr Singh, a veteran politician, is the sitting MP for Lucknow.

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  9. BJP's Gautam Gambhir leads in East Delhipublished at 05:21 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir is leading in the East Delhi constituency.

    He joined the BJP just weeks before the elections.

    East Delhi is one of the densely populated areas in the national capital.

    Atishi, his rival from the Aam Aadmi Party, had made the poor infrastructure in the constituency her main election plank.

    But Gambhir largely campaigned around PM Narendra Modi's leadership.

    Gambhir's lead is hardly surprising because the BJP won the same seat with a huge margin in the 2014 elections.

    Gautam GambhirImage source, Getty Images
  10. Does good politics = bad economics?published at 05:19 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    India's political parties have made many big promises in this election season - and most of them have focused on the economy.

    The country has enjoyed fast growth for years, but there are concerns it is headed for a slowdown. So how many of these promises are realistic?

    Media caption,

    India election 2019: Does bad economics make for good politics?

  11. The BJP appears to be coasting to victorypublished at 05:13 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    Soutik Biswas
    India Correspondent

    If early leads are to be believed, Narendra Modi’s BJP-led NDA appears to be coasting to a second successive term in power. Mr Modi’s BJP is set for a majority of its own.

    The party is likely to make up for the modest losses in the bellwether state of Uttar Pradesh with ample gains in the eastern seaboard states of West Bengal and Orissa.

    BJP supporters

    Rahul Gandhi’s Congress should be unhappy with the way things are going and as a commentator said, “begin preparing for the next elections”.

    The see-saw battle between Mr Gandhi and the BJP’s Smriti Irani in the former’s pocket borough of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh is turning out to be the biggest surprise so far. If Mr Gandhi loses the seat, it will be the biggest upset of this election and make it difficult for him to lead the Congress party

  12. Trends show the BJP lead is growingpublished at 05:12 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    Screenshot
  13. All eyes on West Bengalpublished at 05:05 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    Early trends show that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is leading in the eastern state of West Bengal, where the BJP has been trying hard to make inroads.

    But exit polls predicted that the BJP would win more seats in West Bengal this time than it did in 2014 - it won just two then. The TMC won 34 of the 42 seats.

    And some trends show them leading in as many as 10 seats.

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    TMC, led by the state's chief minister Mamata Banerjee, has been locked in a fierce battle with the BJP since the first day of campaigning.

    Workers from the two parties have often clashed and West Bengal has seen some of the worst poll-related violence so far, says our correspondent Salman Ravi. Additional security forces have been deployed and police have even clamped down in some areas by stopping crowds from assembling.

    West Bengal was a Communist party bastion until 2011, when Ms Banerjee swept to power. Now the communists are largely on the margins.

    This time, the contest is between TMC and BJP.

  14. Bollywood star Sunny Deol is not wowing this poll box officepublished at 04:59 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    This election could well be an anti-climatic ending for Sunny Deol - the 62-year-old Bollywood actor who contested from Gurdaspur, a constituency in Punjab that is just 10km from India’s border with Pakistan.

    He’s a political novice - and has admitted as much.

    “I don’t know much about politics but I am a patriot,” he told a rally in April.

    Deol has certainly lived up to that in his films - especially in Gadar, a 2001 blockbuster in which he plays a truck driver who takes on the Pakistani state during the Indian partition in 1947.

    The movie’s blustering rhetoric and over-the-top fight scenes (in one, Deol wrenches a hand pump out of the ground and beats up Pakistanis with it) made it both a cult hit and the subject of many spoofs.

    Sunny DeolImage source, Getty Images

    One of Deol’s most famous lines from the movie, “Hindustan zindabad tha, hai aur rahega!” (Long live India then, now and always!) was even played on repeat during his campaign.

    It’s unclear why the BJP picked Deol to run against Sunil Jakhar, a veteran Congress leader and current MP.

    Mr Jakhar has underlined Deol’s lack of political experience - he told voters that the actor may be good at singing, dancing and uprooting hand pumps, but knew nothing about Gurdaspur or its people.

  15. Stock markets at all-time highpublished at 04:57 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    ... as early results indicate that the BJP is heading for a comfortable victory.

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  16. The prime minister is building his lead in Varanasipublished at 04:48 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    It's still very early, but it is becoming increasingly clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is building his lead in Varanasi - the ancient, holy Hindu city in Uttar Pradesh where his seat is.

    Our India correspondent Yogita Limaye says: "On the banks of the river Ganges in the city, a place considered most sacred for Hindus, I met many people who had voted for the PM. They said he was their choice because they saw him as a strong leader. I asked if they thought the better days he had promised had arrived. Many said they never expected their lives to improve overnight, but thought he was taking steps in the right direction."

    He won here with a huge margin of more than 300,000 votes in 2014.

    This was a hugely symbolic move as he called himself the son of the river Ganga and the land of Uttar Pradesh.

    The river - heavily polluted over the past few decades - is revered by Hindus. His promises - still to be delivered - to clean it up struck a chord with the voters.

    It's not just Varanasi though - this entire election is seen as a referendum on Mr Modi, a polarising figure adored by many but also blamed for increasing divisions in India.

    Modi
  17. BJP leads as early trends trickle inpublished at 04:46 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    Screenshot

    Early trends show that the BJP is ahead in at least 140 seats.

    And some shocking results could be in the offing.

    Congress president Rahul Gandhi is trailing in Amethi against federal minister Smriti Irani.

    And some are going on along expected lines.

    Home Minister Rajnath SIngh is leading from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh while Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is leading in Nagpur.

    Please stay with us for more updates on key seats and follow results here.

  18. The mood at Congress headquarterspublished at 04:42 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    Trends across local media shows the main opposition Congress party is trailing far behind the governing BJP.

    Our correspondent is at the opposition party's headquarters in capital Delhi and this is the scene outside:

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  19. BJP holding early lead, trends suggestpublished at 04:34 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    Screenshot
  20. India's 'student rebel' is confident of victorypublished at 04:34 British Summer Time 23 May 2019

    The mother of Kanhaiya Kumar, the student leader who shot to fame in 2016 when he was arrested and charged with sedition, is already cooking a victory breakfast, says our correspondent Vineet Khare, who is at his constituency of Begusarai in the eastern state of Bihar.

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    Mr Kumar is from the Communist Party of India (CPI), which has become less important over the years but Begusarai has long been a Communist stronghold - it was even called the "Leningrad of Bihar".

    Mr Kumar, who grew up here, quickly became a symbol of the fight against the Hindu nationalist politics of the BJP.

    To read more about Mr Kumar’s campaign and his chances, check out this profile on him by Neha Thirani Bagri.