LS counting: Home Minister Amit Shah leads with 6,37,104 votes in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar

New Delhi: As the counting of votes is underway for the 18th Lok Sabah elections, Union Minister Home Minister Amit Shah is leading ahead in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar with 6,50,399 votes.

According to the latest trends by the Election Commission of India, Amit Shah has so far received 8,58,197 votes. On the other hand, Congress’ Sonam Ranambhai Patel is trailing behind and has secured 2,07,798 votes.

Out of the 26 seats, BJP is leading in 25 seats while Congress is leading in one. The BJP had earlier won the Surat constituency unopposed after the election officer on April 22 cancelled the nomination papers of the Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani over alleged “fake signatures of people who signed as witnesses.”

Meanwhile, BJP is leading in Ahmedabad East, Ahmedabad West, Amreli, Anand, Bardoli, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Chhota Udaipur, Dahod, Gandhinagar, Junagadh, Kachchh, Kheda, Mahesana, Navsari, Panchmahal, Patan, Porbandar, Rajkot, Sabarkantha, Surendranagar, Vadodara, and Valsad.

On the other hand, Congress is leading in the Banaskantha constituency.

As the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha polls is underway, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA crossed the majority mark in early leads and the INDIA bloc above 200, defying all exit poll predictions. BJP is ahead in 241 seats while its broader coalition NDA is leading in 295 seats. The majority mark is 272.

Meanwhile, the INDIA bloc is leading on 233 seats and others on 17 seats. Congress is leading on 99 seats, Samajwadi Party on 35, DMK on 21 seats, Trinamool Congress on 30, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) on 10 seats, NCP (SP) on eight seats, CPI(M) on five seats and Aam Aadmi Party on three seats.

In the 2019 elections, NDA wrested 353 seats, of which the BJP won 303 alone. The Opposition’s UPA got only 93 seats of which the Congress got 52.

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 by-polls in 25 Assembly constituencies also began.

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 a 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.

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