The Congress was ahead in three states at 10.30 am on Tuesday as votes are counted in this round of assembly elections, billed as the semi final before next year’s Lok Sabha election. All three states - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh - were won last time by the BJP, which had also won 60 of the 65 total parliament seats in these states in the 2014 general elections.

Votes are also being counted in Telangana, where K Chandrashekhar Rao’s Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) has raced to a massive lead, validating his decision to call early elections. In Mizoram, the Congress’ last bastion in the state, the Mizo National Front is ahead.

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The Congress shot off the blocks early in Rajasthan, and by 10.30 am, two and a half hours into counting of votes, was leading in 101 seats, the number a party needs to win a majority in the 200-member assembly; voting was held in 199 seats as a candidate died in one constituency. The BJP was leading in 78 seats.

In Chhattisgarh too the Congress had pulled way ahead, leading in 52 of the state’s 90 seats. A party needs 46 to form government. The BJP was ahead in 25 seats.

Madhya Pradesh has witnessed the closest battle since the morning, with the BJP and Congress neck and neck for most part, till the latter pulled ahead. At 10.30 am, the Congress was leading in 110 seats, the BJP in 96.

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A Congress victory in these states will be a huge morale booster for the party led by Rahul Gandhi who is often taunted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for a series of debacles in state elections since the 2014 general elections, since the BJP swept to power consigning the Congress to its lowest number of seats in Parliament ever.

PM Modi and Amit Shah led the offensive against the Congress, in attacking campaigns as the BJP sought a fourth straight term in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and to retain Rajasthan, which it took from the Congress in 2013.

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The Congress, along with its regional allies, is trailing in Telangana, where Rao, popularly called KCR, established his supremacy early today, never looking back. His TRS was leading in 86 seats, way more than the 60 he needs for a majority in the 119 member assembly.

The TRS, which spearheaded the Telangana statehood campaign that culminated in the creation of India’s youngest state out of Andhra Pradesh in June 2014, took a gamble in September when it opted for early elections almost a year ahead and CM Rao dissolved the assembly.

KCR is facing a united challenge from the Congress, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Left that have formed a ‘mahakootami’ (grand alliance) to unseat the TRS. The BJP fought separately and is leading in six seats.

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First Published: Dec 11, 2018 06:34 IST