India election results: BJP leading on 75 seats, Congress on 25 in early trends

As the counting of the votes for the Lok Sabha polls is underway, the early trends till 9am (7.30am UAE time) showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party is ahead on 75 seats, while the Congress is leading on 25 seats, as per the Election Commission of India.

According to the ECI, the Samajwadi Party is leading on 8 seats, and AAP is leading on 5 seats.

Meanwhile, Telugu Desam is leading on 4, Hindustani Awa Morcha (Secular) on 1, and Janata Dal (Secular) on 2 seats.

Around 642 million people voted in Lok Sabha elections held over seven phases in a mammoth six-week period. The counting of votes began starting with postal ballot papers amid tight security. The counting for State Legislative Assemblies of 175 Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and 147 Assembly constituencies in Odisha and results of bypolls in 25 Assembly constituencies also began.

The Lok Sabha elections for 543 seats of the lower house were held across seven phases.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is eyeing a third straight term in power, while the Opposition under the umbrella of the INDIA bloc is seeking to wrest power from the ruling party.

Most exit polls predicted a straight term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with quite few of them projecting a two-thirds majority for the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The Congress party and its allies dismissed the exit polls as "orchestrated" and a work of "fantasy", asserting that the opposition INDIA bloc will form the next government at the Centre.

Strict security has been put in place for the smooth conduct of counting of votes for over 8,000 candidates in this general election.

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