The Congress is on course to win over 100 Lok Sabha seats – after winning just 44 in 2014 and 52 in the 2019 election. In 2009 the party – then heading the United Progressive Alliance – won 206 seats.
At 11.15 am the Congress was ahead in 99 seats and the party-led INDIA bloc – formed in June last year to stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP-led National Democratic Alliance from claiming a third term – was ahead in 226.
The NDA was leading in 291 seats; the ruling party had quickly surged past the halfway mark of 272 in early leads as counting began (starting with postal ballots) this morning.
In 2014 the Congress – then led by Rahul Gandhi – faced the much-vaunted ‘Modi wave’ and slumped to a massive defeat, losing 162 seats and dropping nearly 9.3 per cent of the vote share.
Five years on the BJP eked further ahead, winning 303 seats on its own and 353 with allies.
