Sushma Swaraj praises PM Modi on Twitter

As counting of votes for 542 Lok Sabha seats is underway, Union Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday took to Twitter to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi for helping Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lead in the Lok Sabha elections.

"Congratulations @narendramodi for helping BJP win big. On behalf of people, I extend my gratitude," BJP leader said in a tweet.

Out of 542 parliamentary seats, the BJP is leading in 295 seats while the Indian National Congress is placed second in the list with 51 seats, as per official Election Commission trends.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is surging ahead in Varanasi with a margin of 1,12,476 votes, while BJP president Amit Shah is leading by 1,77,350 votes in Gandhinagar.

With early trends in favour of the BJP, party workers and supporters burst into celebrations at various party offices as well as its headquarters in New Delhi.

Workers distributed sweets, raised slogans and were seen dancing on the beats of drums at various places.

Large scale orders for sweets have also been placed by the party across the country.

The Lok Sabha polls that commenced on April 11 and wrapped up on May 19, saw approximately 900 million voters exercising their franchise and deciding the fate of 8040 candidates across 542 seats in the country.