National TV channels show NDA leading in more than 300 seats

Nearly two hours into counting, television channels on Thursday showed India's ruling NDA leading in more than 300 seats with the BJP at 270-plus while the UPA hovered around the 100 mark.

The trends showed the Congress at 51, trends across the channels showed.

According to NDTV, the BJP-led NDA was ahead in 326 seats followed by the Congress-led UPA in 111 and others in 110.

CNN-News 18 indicated a bigger lead for the ruling alliance in 342 seats with the Congress-led UPA ahead in 91 and others in 112.

India Today showed NDA getting leads in 337 seats followed by UPA in 104 and others in 103.

Hindi channel Aaj Tak also showed early leads for the NDA in 335 seats, UPA in 103 and others in 102.

The counting exercise, which began at 8 am, is on in over 4,000 counting centres amid concerns raised by opposition parties over alleged tampering of EVMs. They have asked the Election Commission to ensure transparency in counting.

Election Commission officials said final results are expected only by late evening.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several union ministers, BJP chief Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi are among key leaders who contested the polls.

Most exit polls predicted the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is on course to retain power for a second term.

However, the opposition parties have trashed results of the exit polls, claiming that the BJP will suffer severe drubbing due to rising unemployment, farm distress and slowdown in the economy.

The voting was staggered between April 11 and May 19 in which around 67 per cent of the nearly 900 million eligible people exercised their franchise to elect 542 members of the Lok Sabha from a total of 8,049 contestants.

In the 2014 elections, the BJP won 282 seats while the Congress suffered a severe drubbing, getting an all-time low of 44 seats as against 206 it won in 2009.