Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party as the National Democratic Alliance is all set to make a comeback at the Centre. According to the data on the Election Commission of India’s website, the BJP will surpass its 2014 performance, and is likely to cross 300 seats.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi lost the family pocket-borough of Amethi to BJP’s Smriti Irani. The Congress scored a zero in Rajasthan, where it had formed government only in December. In Uttar Pradesh, the party managed to win only one seat – Rae Bareli that Sonia Gandhi contested.
11.55 pm: Here are the top stories of the day:
- In Delhi, all the seven BJP candidates secured more than 50% vote share. The Aam Aadmi Party was set to finish runners-up in two seats.
- The powerful Gowda family in Karnataka suffered two major setbacks. Both former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) President HD Devegowda, who contested from Tumkur, and his grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the party’s candidate lost from Mandya, lost the polls. However, Deve Gowda’s another grandson, Prajwal Revanna, won from party bastion Hassan.
- Narendra Modi dedicated the landslide victory of the BJP and its allies in the parliamentary elections to the people of India.“This is not Modi’s victory,” he said. “This is victory of honest people’s hope, this is a victory of youths who have walked on the path of 21st century with dreams.”
- Narendra Modi dropped the prefix “chowkidar”, or watchman, from his Twitter profile. Modi said that though the word chowkidar will no longer be a part of his Twitter handle, it will remain “an integral part” of him. “Thank you India,” he wrote. “The faith placed in our alliance is humbling and gives us strength to work even harder to fulfil people’s aspirations.”
- Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia lost the party bastion of Guna in Madhya Pradesh to BJP’s Krishna Pal Yadav, according to figures released by the Election Commission. He lost to Yadav by a margin of 1,25,549 votes.
- Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu resigned as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh after his party showed leads in only 23 of 175 Assembly seats of the state after nearly 12 hours of counting. The YSR Congress Party was leading in 135 and won 14 of 175 seats as of 7.45 pm. The party, led by YS Jaganmohan Reddy, also won 22 of 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
11.52 pm: Based on the data reflected on the Election Commission’s website, the BJP is winning in 239 seats, while leading in 64. The Congress is winning in 39 seats and leading in 13 seats.
11.30 pm: US President Donald Trump congratulates Narendra Modi. Trump said “great things” were in store in the partnership between the United States and India. “I look forward to continuing our important work together!”
10.47 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanks his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan for his good wishes. “I have always given primacy to peace and development in our region,” he tweets.
10.30 pm: DMK’s Thoothukudi candidate Kanimozhi wins by a margin of more than 3.47 lakh votes. She was contesting against the BJP’s Tamil Nadu chief Tamilisai Soundararajan.
10.25 pm: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu congratulates people for “voting for stability” and hailed the Election Commission for ensuring smooth conduct of elections. “I hope that all of us, irrespective of party affiliations, will continue to deepen the roots of our rich democratic tradition and focus our collective energies on development, reforms and enhancement of the quality of our people’s lives,” says Naidu, according to PTI.
Also read: Narendra Modi dedicates NDA’s landslide victory to the people of India
10.22 pm: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan says the defeat of Left Democratic Front in the Lok Sabha elections in the state was unexpected. “we will examine the reasons in detail,” ANI quotes Vijayan as saying. “The sentiments against the ruling party in Centre is reflected. That is why the BJP did not get any seat in Kerala. The sentiments against the BJP benefited Congress.”
10.20 pm: Rahul Gandhi wins Wayanad Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 4,31,770 votes, according to the Election Commission’s website.
10.02 pm: BJP’s Sonipat sitting MP Ramesh Chander Kaushik defeats former Chief Minister and Congress candidate Bhupinder Singh Hooda by a margin of 1,64,864 votes.
Also read: 2019 results: Why the BJP’s sweep in Haryana marks the end of an era
10 pm: Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan says he will continue to work for ushering in a change and clean politics, PTI reports. Kalyan lost both Bhimavaram and Gajuwaka seats he contested in for the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections. “We are here to bring in a change by doing clean politics,” Kalyan says, according to PTI. “We may have lost the elections but we will work towards new-age politics...In this journey we are required to withstand all turmoils and we are ready for that.”
9.58 pm: Actor-turned-politician Sunny Deol, who contested on a BJP ticket from Gurdaspur constituency, wins the seat by defeating Congress’ sitting MP Sunil Jakhar by a margin of 82,459 votes. Deol says he would work for the welfare of voters. “I was confident that people of this constituency love me a lot and will ensure my victory,” PTI quotes him as saying.
9.55 pm: The Election Commission declares the result for East Delhi and North East Delhi seats. Gautam Gambhir, who contested on BJP ticket, won by a margin of 3,91,222 votes, with Congress’ Arvinder Singh Lovely trailing in the second position. BJP Delhi unit president Manoj Tiwari won against his Congress counterpart Sheila Dikshit.
9.50 pm: The Delhi BJP polled more votes than the combined votes that the Congress and AAP garnered. The BJP’s voteshare at 9.45 pm stood at 56.6%, while the AAP was at 18.11% and the Congress was at 22.51%.
The BJP is leading in five seats out of seven in the National Capital Territory of Delhi and has won two seats.
9.11 pm: The Rashtriya Janata Dal claims the Election Commission is delaying to announce the results in Jehanabad seat in Bihar. The RJD candidate is ahead by 2,000 postal votes and 925 EVM votes, but the Election Commission is trying to cancel the postal votes, the party alleges.
9.05 pm: Naveen Patnaik congratulates the BJP for its victory in the elections. “I rang up the prime minister in the morning and congratulated him,” ANI quotes him as saying. “We will have a constructive relationship with the central government for the development and welfare of Odisha.”
9.02 pm: Congress leader Anand Sharma says it is time for an honest introspection for the party in the larger interest of the country’s democracy. “Accepting the people’s verdict with all humility, I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his victory,” PTI quotes Sharma sa saying. “I hope the mandate gives grace and wisdom to leave the campaign bitterness behind and work towards unity.”
He further says: “It is time to collectively introspect and reflect on what went wrong and mistakes made that led to this humiliating defeat. We remain committed to the Congress ideology and values and reflect on how to rejuvenate the party for the larger interest of the Indian democracy, with all honesty.”
9 pm: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi wins Raebareli seat with 5,34,918 votes.
8.50 pm: Jaganmohan Reddy is likely to take oath on May 30, ANI reports.
Read more here: Andhra Pradesh: Chandrababu Naidu resigns as CM, Jaganmohan Reddy likely to take oath on May 30
8.49 pm: According to the Election Commission’s website, the BJP is winning in 92 seats and leading in 211 out of 542 Lok Sabha constituencies. The Congress is winning in 25 seats and leading in 26 seats.
8.46 pm: Former Prime Minister HD Devegowda loses Tumkur seat to BJP candidate GS Basavaraj by 13,339 votes.
8.45 pm: BJP leader Varun Gandhi wins from Pilibhit seat defeating his Samajwadi Party candidate Hemraj Verma by margin of 2,55,627 votes.
8.36 pm: Before ending his speech, Modi thanks every BJP worker, from “panna pramukh” (page in-charge) to national president for the BJP’s landslide victory.
8.35 pm: “It is not about Modi, it’s about the aspirations of the youth and self-respect,” he says.
8.30 pm: “I will once again say that I will never act with wrong intentions,” says Modi. “And I want to promise I will never do anything for myself.”
8.29 pm: “In 2014, you did not know me enough but you voted for me,” says Modi. “But in 2019, you have known me well and have added to the majority.”
8.14 pm: Since 2014, the group of people who spoke about secularism have not talked about it, Modi says. “There used to a fake tag of secularism that seemed to wash all sins, today these people have been completely unmasked,” he adds.
The prime minister further says: “This was an election where none of the Opposition members spoke about inflation...No one has talked about corruption.”
8.10 pm: “This is not the victory of Modi but the victory of citizens desperate for honesty in governance,” the prime minister says.
8.06 pm: “If someone has won, it is Hindustan that has won, it is democracy that has won, it is public that has won and therefore, all BJP and NDA people with humility dedicate this victory to public,” the prime minister says. “I congratulate all the winners, no matter from which party or which region they contested.”
8.05 pm: Modi says, “I assure you that the BJP is committed to the constitution and federalism.”
8 pm: He thanks the Election Commission and the security forces for ensuring smooth elections in such a big democracy.
“When the war in Mahabharat ended, Krishna was asked ‘whose side were you on?’” Modi says. “I believe Lord Krishna’s answer is what the people of the country have given today. Krishna had said ‘I was not in anybody’s side, I was only in the favour of Hastinapur’.”
The 130 crore people of the country have stood up for India, he adds.
7.55 pm: “Since Independence, this is the first election where there has been the highest turnout,” Modi says. “This shows the commitment of our citizens.”
7.52 pm: Narendra Modi begins addressing BJP workers at party headquarters in Delhi. “I bow my head to the 130 crore people of India, this election is the biggest thing in the world,” he says.
7.50 pm: The BJP president further says that there will be no state in India where the BJP will not be able to expand to. “The next five years of PM Modi’s term will be the age of BJP’s expansion,” he adds.
7.46 pm: Amit Shah chants “Jai Shri Ram” as the crowd cheers. “Even after so much violence and rigging, BJP won 18 seats in West Bengal,” Shah says. “It tells that in coming days, BJP will establish its might in West Bengal.”
7.45 pm: “In 17 states, BJP has got more than 50% votes,” says Shah.
7.40 pm: Amit Shah says 21 Opposition parties had tried very hard to form an alliance. He also mocked Chandrababy Naidu’s efforts to build a coalition. “If you had worked hard to gain votes, maybe you could have opened accounts,” he says.
7.36 pm: “In the last five years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has worked towards the upliftment of 50 crore poor people in the country,” Amit Shah says.
He says the “BJP’s historic victory” was achieved under Modi’s leadership. “After 50 years someone has won an absolute majority for the second time in a row,” he says.
7.35 pm: BJP President Amit Shah begins addressing party workers at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi. He thanks BJP karyakartas for the victory.
7.32 pm: Congress candidate in Barmer Manvendra Singh, son of former BJP leader Jaswant Singh, loses to BJP candidate Kailash Choudhary by a margin of 3.23,808 votes.
7.28 pm: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu resigns, PTI reports.
7.23 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at BJP headquarters in Delhi. Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, JP Nadda, Thawar Chand Gehlot and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan present at the BJP headquarters.
7.08 pm: In Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party candidate Supriya Sule was leading in Baramati constituency.
7.05 pm: Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan wins from Jamui seat in Bihar. Lok Janshakti Party is a constituent of the BJP-led NDA.
7 pm: BJP’s Ravi Kishan won from Gorakhpur seat in Uttar Pradesh against Samajwadi Party candidate Rambhual Nishad. Adityanath had won the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
“This is a victory of the truth,” Kishan says, according to ANI.
6.45 pm: Here are the top updates from today:
- Congress President Rahul Gandhi congratulated Narendra Modi and the BJP for its victory in the Lok Sabha elections. Gandhi also conceded defeat in Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, where he contested against Union minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani.
- Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti conceded defeat in the Lok Sabha elections after she trailed behind National Conference’s Hasnain Masoodi and Congress’ Ghulam Ahmad Mir in the Anantnag seat. Meanwhile, Communist Party of India candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections for the first time, is trailing behind Bharatiya Janata Party leader Giriraj Singh in Begusarai constituency in Bihar.
- The BJP lost the Panaji Assembly constituency of Goa to the Congress for the first time in 25 years in a bye-election. The bye-poll was necessitated by the death of long-time MLA and Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in March.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the Lok Sabha election results, describing them as a victory for India. Amit Shah, the president of the victorious Bharatiya Janata Party, said the results were the people’s mandate against the Opposition’s propaganda and lies.
- Several international leaders congratulated Narendra Modi as the BJP-led NDA is all set for a historic win.