Lok Sabha election results 2019 live updates: India awaits its next government

Counting of votes for the Lok Sabha election results 2019, in which over 7,500 candidates were in the fray for 542 seats, will begin at 8.00 AM on May 23. The Lok Sabha election results 2019 are expected only by late evening due to tallying of voter-verified paper audit trail slips with EVM count for the first time. Nearly 67.11 per cent of the 90.99 crore electors had cast their vote in the seven-phase Lok Sabha election and now await the election results. This is the highest ever voter turnout in Indian parliamentarian elections. This is for the first time in a Lok Sabha election that results of voting machines will be matched with slips generated by paper trail machines.

NEW DELHI: Counting of votes for the Lok Sabha election 2019, in which over 7,500 candidates were in the fray for 542 seats, will begin at 8.00 AM on May 23.  The Lok Sabha election results 2019 are expected only by late evening due to tallying of voter-verified paper audit trail slips with EVM count for the first time. Nearly 67.11 per cent of the 90.99 crore electors had cast their vote in the seven-phase Lok Sabha election and now await the result. This is the highest ever voter turnout in Indian parliamentarian elections. This is for the first time in a Lok Sabha election that results of voting machines will be matched with slips generated by paper trail machines.

The exercise will take place in five polling stations per assembly segment which effectively means that out of nearly 10.3 lakh polling stations, the EVM-VVPAT matching will take place in 20600 such stations. The Election Commission is yet to provide the number of counting centres being set up for Thursday, saying the data is not centrally available. 

Service voters stood at 18 lakh. These include personnel of the armed forces, central police force personnel and state police personnel who are posted outside their constituencies. Diplomats and support staff posted in Indian embassies abroad are also counted as service voters. Out of 18 lakh registered voters, 16.49 lakh have sent their postal ballots to their respective returning officers as on May 17.

Out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, elections were held in 542 constituencies as the EC had cancelled polls to the Vellore constituency on the grounds of excessive use of money power. The poll panel is yet to announce a fresh date for elections in Vellore.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several union ministers, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav are among key leaders who contested the Lok Sabha election polls.

Here are the live updates of Lok Sabha election results 2019-  

23 May 2019

06:58 IST

Congress has readied a Karnataka-style plan in case Lok Sabha election results 2019 are different from the exit polls. The party have decided to name it as Secular Democratic Front. Congress legal team has prepared three sets of letters in case the party feels it can give a fight to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in forming the next government. The plan includes bring together parties which are not part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) currently like Trinamool Congress (TMC), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Left Front led by the Communist Party of India Marxist.

06:57 IST

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy offered prayer before counting. While the Chief Minister visited Bunshankri temple in Bengaluru, Nikhil prayed at Chanundeshwari temple in Mysuru.

06:55 IST

BJP leader and Nagpur candidate Nitin Gadkari's residence has been decorated with party's colours - saffron and green.

06:52 IST

BJP Bhopal candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur will break her vow of silence today. She had on May 20 apologised for her comments calling Nathuram Godse, who had assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, a patriot and said she would observe "silence" for 63 hours as a mark of penance.

05:45 IST

There were nearly 17.3 crore voters in the first Lok Sabha election in 1951-52. But over 91 crore voters were eligible for Lok Sabha election 2019. 

05:20 IST

Lok Sabha election results 2019 on Thursday will give India a new government. Following the mammoth Lok Sabha election 2019, the process of which was kicked off by the Election Commission of India on March 11, the counting the votes of over 67.11 crore voters across the country will take place today (March 23).

05:10 IST

Lok Sabha election 2019 kicked off on March 11 when the Election Commission of India announced the schedule. Voting was held in seven phases on April 11, 18, 23, 29, May 6, 12 and 19. The results of the mega electoral exercise will be declared on after the counting of votes on May 23. Over 67.11 crore voters exercised their right to vote. 

05:08 IST

At 8 am, the Election Commission of India will start counting the postal ballots followed by the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and then the voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT). The trends of Lok Sabha election 2019 will starting flowing in thick and fast in a few minutes. The final declaration of Lok Sabha election 2019 results is likely to take place only by late evening on May 23 (Thursday) or even on May 24. 

21:33 IST

At the BJP office in Delhi, a separate media stand has been created from where the party leaders will express their views as the trends/results start pouring in. Several BJP leaders will be present in the party headquarters from 8 am onwards on May 23.

21:29 IST

The sprawling central office of BJP in New Delhi is all decked up for the D-day, that is, May 23, when the counting of votes for 2019 Lok Sabha election will be taken up. Most of the exit polls have predicted that the Narendra Modi-powered BJP-led NDA will storm back to power with a massive mandate. 

21:28 IST

The states and UTs have been further asked to take adequate measures for the security of Election Commission strong rooms and venues of counting of votes.

21:27 IST

 The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sounded an alert to all state chief secretaries and the DGPs regarding possible violent clashes that might erupt in different parts of the country on May 23, the day counting of votes polled in all seven phases of Lok Sabha elections will take place.

21:21 IST

After voting in seven phases which concluded last Sunday (May 19), a majority of exit polls released predicted a comfortable win for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) possibly hitting the majority mark on its own. Zee News’ poll of polls - Maha Poll – showed that the NDA could once again hit a triple century and form the government on the back of wins in 303 seats. It has also predicted that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance may be halted to 117 seats, quite unable to mount any challenge. The other parties are predicted to finish with a combined tally of 122 seats.

21:20 IST

It promises to be a thriller of a Thursday in India when Election Commission sits down to count crores of votes cast in Lok Sabha election 2019 - the largest democratic exercise in the world – spanning the length and breadth of the country over more than 40 days. Seven phases, 542 constituencies, thousands of candidates and crores of eligible voters have defined Lok Sabha election 2019 over the last several weeks. Promises have been lofty, allegations have been scathing and not a single stone has been left unturned by political parties in their respective bids to either remain in power or seize it. Lok Sabha election 2019 has been a potboiler with ample doses of action, drama and even comic relief which now promises to end in an electrifying climax.