The INDIA alliance made a major comeback in several politically-crucial Hindi heartland states with the latest trend in counting of votes on Tuesday showing it ahead in 42 seats out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh and registering steady headway in Rajasthan, Bihar, Haryana and Jharkhand.
However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP-led alliance is set to retain power for a third consecutive term but not with an overwhelming majority as predicted by various exit polls.
The most unexpected performance put up by the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) was in politically-crucial Uttar Pradesh where Samajwadi Party was marching ahead in 35 seats and Congress in seven, according to the trends.
The BJP is leading in 34 seats, its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal in two constituencies and Apna Dal (Soneylal) and Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) in one each.
The opposition bloc's performance in Uttar Pradesh is being seen as a big surprise for the BJP that had almost swept the polls in 2014 with a stunning performance of coming out victorious in 71 seats and held its ground in 2019 by winning 62.
In 2019, the Samajwadi Party won in five seats, Congress in one and Bahujan Samaj Party in 10.
The Indian alliance also made significant gains in Rajasthan, Haryana, Bihar and Jharkhand but could not spring a surprise in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh.
In Rajasthan, BJP was ahead in 14, while Congress was leading in eight while CPI(M), Rashtriya Loktantrik Party and Bharat Adivasi Party were ahead in one seat each.
The BJP had won all the 25 seats in the 2019 polls.
The INDIA alliance also made inroads into Bihar with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) being ahead in four seats, Congress in two seats, CPI(ML) in two seats.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is leading in 31 seats with BJP ahead in 12, JD(U) in 14 and Lok Janshakti Party(Ram Vilas) in five seats.
In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the NDA won 39 out of 40 seats in Bihar with BJP coming out victorious in 17 seats, JD(U) in 16 and Lok Janshakti Party in six.
In Haryana, both Congress and BJP are ahead in five seats each, according to the latest rounds of vote count. The BJP had won all 10 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
In Jharkhand too, INDIA alliance's Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) are ahead in three and two seats respectively while BJP is leading in eight seats. BJP's ally AJSU Party is ahead in one seat.
The BJP won 11 seats in 2019 polls while its ally All Jharkhand Students Union came out victorious in one seat. The JMM and Congress won one seat each.
The NDA continued its dominance in Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Chhattisgarh.
The BJP is ahead in all 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, all four seats in Himachal Pradesh, all seven in Delhi and all five in Uttarakhand.
In Chhattisgarh, the BJP is leading in 10 seats while Congress is ahead in one, according to the trends.
In 2019, BJP won 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh while Congress won one. In that year, the BJP had won all four seats in Himachal Pradesh, all five in Uttarakhand, all seven in Delhi and nine out of 11 seats in Chhattisgarh.
Congress won two seats in Chhattisgarh in 2019.
In total, the Hindi heartland states comprise 225 Lok Sabha seats.
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