Election Result 2024: BJP-led NDA Crosses Halfway Mark in Early Trends, Gets Massive Lead In Bengal

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA on Tuesday crossed the halfway mark in the early trends as the counting of votes began for the Lok Sabha election on June 4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi led from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh. 

The BJP surged ahead on more than 325 seats, crossing the halfway mark of 273, in early trends. The Congress-led INDI alliance positioned ahead in 155 seats, according to the latest reports. 

The saffron camp also surged ahead in West Bengal with an early lead in 26 seats, while the TMC is leading on 11 seats. 

Counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections has begun across states and Union Territories at 8 AM, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.

According to the Conduct of Election Rules, postal ballots were taken up for counting first and the process of counting votes recorded in electronic voting machines (EVMs) began 30 minutes later.

The process of counting votes cast through postal ballots and EVMs will continue simultaneously. 

While the Lok Sabha has 543 members, counting is being held for 542 seats after the BJP's Surat candidate Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed.

Counting of votes is also underway for the assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, where polling was held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections.

Elections to the assemblies of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim were also held alongside the Lok Sabha polls. The results of these elections were declared on June 2.

Since 2019, VVPAT (voter-verifiable paper audit trail) slips from five randomly selected polling stations per assembly constituency -- or segment in the case of Lok Sabha seats -- are matched with the EVM count for greater transparency.