Soutik Biswas
Reporting from Delhi

When Narendra Modi launched his campaign with the slogan “Ab ki baar, 400 paar,” he aimed for more than 400 seats for his BJP-led NDA alliance. The most optimistic exit polls even predicted a clear 400 seats for the alliance.

However, early trends indicate a much tighter contest with the Congress-led INDIA alliance, a centre-left coalition. Speculation is already rife about whether the BJP alone will reach the 272 seats needed for a majority in the 543-seat parliament.

The lead between the two coalitions appears narrower than expected, with early trends showing a difference of only 60 to 70 seats.

Image source, Getty Images

Neha Sharma
Reporting from Delhi

Party workers at the Congress headquarters in Delhi are cheering for their leader Rahul Gandhi as early trends show a better-than-expected performance by the opposition INDIA coalition so far.

Raghavendra Rao
Reporting from Delhi

As early trends show the opposition INDIA alliance - which includes main opposition party, the Congress - crossing 200 seats, the mood at the BJP office appears to have become distinctly guarded.

Party spokespersons, however, are maintaining that the NDA alliance - led by the BJP - is comfortably placed to form the next government.

The opposition alliance's performance in early trends appears to have come as a surprise to many party workers here.

However, some party spokespersons say it's still too early to comment and things will only be clear by noon.

Party workers at the Congress headquarters in Delhi are celebrating the early trends that seem to defy exit poll predictions.

The party and its allies in the opposition INDIA coalition are performing better than expected in battleground states like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Image source, Sandeep Yadav/BBC

Image source, Sandeep Yadav/BBC

Image source, Sandeep Yadav/BBC

Prachi Kulkarni
BBC Marathi, Pune

I'm outside a counting centre in Maharashtra state's Pune city and it is smouldering right now.

Even though the temperature is around 35C, the high levels of humidity make it feel a lot hotter.

Since there's no TV at the centre, I can see party workers sitting outdoors, under the shade of a tree and checking the trends on their phones.

Counting for two constituencies are under way at the booth - that of Pune district and Baramati.

In Baramati, where two members of the powerful Pawar family are facing off against each other, early trends show that Sharad Pawar's daughter, Supriya Sule, has a lead over her opponent - Ajit Pawar's wife, Sunetra Pawar, - by about 14,000 votes.

Salman Ravi and Debalin Roy
BBC Hindi, Kolkata

We are in Kolkata city in West Bengal state where counting of votes is under way at 55 centres, each of them tightly guarded.

Thousands of paramilitary soldiers have been deployed to provide security.

At the counting centre at Netaji Indoor Stadium, barricades have been set up at all entry points and police are preventing politicians and supporters from entering as a precautionary measure.

According to early trends, the regional Trinamool Congress party (TMC), which governs the state, is leading in nine constituencies while the BJP is leading in two and the Congress in one (the state has 42 parliament seats).

Counting of votes is underway in different parts of the country. Here is a busy counting centre in India's high-altitude Ladakh region.

Arshdeep Kaur
BBC Punjabi

Image source, Getty Images

Self-styled preacher Amritpal Singh, whose calls for an independent state for Sikhs riled Indian authorities, is leading in Khadoor Sahib seat in the northern state of Punjab.

He is currently held at the high-security Dibrugarh jail in Assam state.

Singh, who is contesting as an independent candidate, was arrested in April 2023 under the stringent National Security Act (NSA), which allows for individuals to be detained without being charged for up to a year.

Singh shot to prominence in February 2023 after hundreds of his supporters stormed a police station, demanding the release of an arrested aide. He was on the run for more than a month before being arrested.

Indians across the country are glued to TV and phone screens as they watch the election trends come in.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Kirti Dubey
BBC Hindi, Congress HQ, Delhi

Hundreds of Congress workers have gathered at the party's headquarters in the capital, Delhi.

A big TV screen has been put up inside the office and party workers are keeping track of the early trends shown on news channels.

BBC Hindi reporter Kirti Dubey is at the office, keeping a watch on the proceedings there.

Geeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi

As vote-counting progresses, all eyes are on the state of Uttar Pradesh, commonly known as UP.

Early trends show that the opposition alliance is leading in 47 seats while NDA is ahead in 32.

With an estimated 257 million people, India’s most populous state elects 80 MPs.

So, the way this state votes can make or break a party’s chances. In 2014, BJP won 71 seats in the state and in 2019, it got 62. Party leaders had said they were aiming for 70 plus.

Image source, Getty Images

The Congress, which was dominant in the state for four decades until it was edged out by local parties in 1991, is fighting here in alliance with the regional Samajwadi Party (SP).

Both the prime minister and the Congress party’s Rahul Gandhi are also contesting from the state - Mr Modi is in the race to win his Varanasi constituency for the third time while Mr Gandhi is contesting from the family bastion of Rae Bareli.

You can read more on the battleground statehere

Archana Shukla
India business correspondent, Mumbai

Stock markets opened in the red in Tuesday’s trade, falling more than 2%, as early election trends suggested lower-than-expected number of seats for Mr Modi's party.

Early election trends are showing a different picture from the exuberant post-poll projections, many of which predicted a clear two-thirds majority for the BJP and its allies.

Markets had rallied on Monday, hitting record highs and closing 3.5% higher in trade - their biggest gain in 39 months.

The markets, which traditionally favour policy continuity, are looking forward to Mr Modi’s promise of infrastructure-led economic policies and business-friendly reforms.

It's still too early but if the trends persist and Mr Modi's NDA alliance wins fewer seats than it did in 2019, then analysts say markets could see some short-term volatility.

Image source, Getty Images

The opposition INDIA alliance is now leading in over 200 seats, giving the ruling NDA stiff competition.

These are, however, still early trends as counting continues across centres in the country. An alliance or party needs to win 272 seats to form the government.

Yogita Limaye
Reporting from Delhi

Supporters have started to trickle in at the BJP’s headquarters in Delhi.

Ashok Pandey from South Delhi is holding up a placard saying “The one who’s brought Lord Ram, we will bring him.”

It’s a popular slogan we have heard a lot at BJP rallies - it refers to the opening of a temple to Hindu god Ram in Ayodhya earlier this year which, for some Hindu voters, has been a key reason why they voted for Mr Modi’s party.

Another supporter, Ratan Rajan, has come on a bicycle from Vaishali in Bihar, 1,000km (620 miles) away. It took him nine days to get to Delhi.

He has been offering prayers to a big cutout of Mr Modi. He claims he’s a supporter of the prime minister because he has benefited from welfare schemes.

Now counting is underway in centres across the country. The ballots are being counted under tight security with police and paramilitary forces deployed at counting centres.

Image source, ANI

Image source, ANI

Image source, ANI

In Maharashtra state's Nashik district, counting of postal votes is underway.

The state has the second largest number of parliaments seats at 48, and right now, going by very early trends, the two alliances are neck-and-neck.

It'll take a while more for the picture to become clear.

BBC Marathi's reporter Pravin Thakare was at an election centre in Nashik and got to see the counting staff taking a vow of silence. They're sworn to secrecy to keep the integrity of the election process intact.

Staying with the trends: The NDA is leading in 267 seats with the opposition alliance ahead in 189 seats.

A party or an alliance needs 272 seats to form the government.

Cherylann Mollan
Reporting from Delhi

It's really hot in Delhi right now as we wait for the results - and the scorching heat has been a major topic of conversation during this election.

India’s general election, which is held once every five years, usually takes place during the summer months of April and May. But this year’s temperatures have been record-breaking as the country sees longer and more intense heatwaves.

Temperatures have neared 50C in some places in northern and central India, making it difficult for people to step out and vote. But hundreds of millions did.

Read our story on what voters and poll strategists had to say about holding elections in the summer heat

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, ANI

So the votes are being counted today, but there’s one candidate whose fate was decided long ago.

Mukesh Dalal from the BJP was declared the winner from Surat constituency in Gujarat state way back in April. Why?

Because the nominations of two Congress candidates were rejected due to alleged discrepancies in signatures.

And eight other candidates withdrew from the contest - one of them told online portal Newslaundry, external he did so because he had “important work at home”.

Still very early trends - they now show Mr Modi's alliance NDA leading in 209 seats. The alliance has said it is confident of a comfortable win, a claim disputed by the opposition.