Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA is headed for a second term in Government. This is after a number of leads indicated a clear edge for the BJP-led ruling coalition.

Trends show that the NDA is leading in more than 320 seats with the BJP leading in 275 seats, close to the halfway mark.

Local reports suggest a wave in favour of Mr Modi which took the BJP beyond 200 just an hour after the counting began at 8 am.
The BJP is doing well in the Hindi heartland, its strong bastions, as well as in the east and in the west.

Election Commission data by mid-afternoon showed the Bharatiya Janata Party leading in contests for 299 out of 542 seats in the lower house of Parliament, with its main rival, the Indian National Congress, ahead in 50 contests.

The final tally was not expected until Thursday evening at the earliest.

The election has been seen as a referendum on India’s 68-year-old prime minister, whose economic reforms have had mixed results but whose popularity as a social underdog in India’s highly stratified society has endured.