The Opposition INDIA block made a stunning comeback in early trends of vote counting after falling behind by more than 100 seats during the vote counting on Tuesday. At 9.15 AM the INDIA bloc was leading by 1 seat. INDIA bloc was leading on 245 seats while the NDA was ahead on 243.
The vote counting on Tuesday saw a lot of see-saw movement as the INDIA bloc took leads in a few seats in the first 20 minutes of counting. However, after some time the BJP took a massive lead and even crossed the 'magic figure' of 272 seats. However, around 9.15 AM the Congress's tally quickly went up and the BJP's numbers came down as the two saw a neck-and-neck-fight.
Major BJP leaders like Jitin Prasada, Smriti Irani, Lallu Singh, Sanjeev Baliyan, and Sakshi Maharaj, fell behind. Around 9.30 AM, INDIA took lead on 39 seats in UP while the BJP was behind on 4 seats. The BJP fell behind in Purvanchal region as the SP took lead on 18 of the 27 seats. Major seats like Kairana, Rampur, Nagina, Gazipur, Mirzapur, Robertganj, among others saw the BJP trailing. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and KL Sharma were leading on the Raebareli and Amethi seats, respectively.
However, the NDA made a comeback within 15 minutes as it went up to 255 seats and the INDIA fell behind with leads on 234 seats around 9.35 AM. None of the alliances could make it to the halfway mark of 272 seats again. In Maharasthra, the NDA was leading on 16 seats while the INDIA was leading on 11 around 9.37 AM.
In Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore, BJP state president Annamalai fell behind around 9.40. The NDA was ahead on only 1 seat while the INDIA bloc was leading on 35 in Tamil Nadu. In Karnataka, however, the BJP took lead on 18 seats and the INDIA bloc was ahead on 10.
The INDIA again closed the gap around 9.45 AM, with leads on 250 seats and trailing the NDA by just 5 seats. Two minutes later, both sides were tied at 260 seats as the early trends for all 543 seats came in.
(This is a developing copy and will be updated.)