After a marathon polling process to elect the 18th Lok Sabha that lasted for a month and a half, the counting day is finally here.
Most of the exit polls give a clear mandate in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, predicting it a historic third straight term for Narendra Modi, who will be the only prime minister to achieve this feat after Jawaharlal Nehru.
On the other hand, the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is also hopeful of getting past the majority mark.
Catch all the leads and results HERE.
Apart from the BJP, some of the major constituents of the NDA are Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal-United, Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party, the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Janata Dal-Secular of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal, the Republican Party of India-Athawale, the Apna Dal-Sonelal, and the Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas, among others.
Whereas the INDIA bloc is primarily made up of the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the National Conference, the People's Democratic Party, and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha among others.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress is not fighting the elections in alliance with the INDIA parties, although she had attended a few meetings of bloc held earlier and has also offered outside support if it manages to win enough number of seats to form a government at the Centre.
The other major parties that are in the fray are the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Biju Janata Dal, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu (YSR) Congress Party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Indian National Lok Dal, and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.
