Results day in India

Leaders of India's main opposition BJP have admitted defeat in the general election as counting trends show the ruling Congress alliance well ahead. Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said: "We accept this verdict." The Third Front has also conceded the election. Results day in India Official results will flood in soon but the trends reported by state TV showed Congress ahead in 249 seats, the BJP in 164 and the Third Front in 60. Congress supporters have already begun celebrating in Delhi. Rajnath Singh, president of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, told reporters it had not expected this kind of result. "We will sit together later today, once all the results are out, and analyse what happened," he said. Jaitley said: "Something certainly did go wrong... Our performance was not up to expectation." Prakash Karat, the leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the key mover in the Third Front, accepted Congress had won. "The CPM and the Left parties have suffered a major setback," he said. The BBC in Delhi says that a small crowd has already gathered outside Congress headquarters to celebrate, banging drums and chanting slogans. There has been at least one major setback for Congress. Home Minister P Chidambaram has lost his seat in Tamil Nadu, the Press Trust of India reported. Safe majority Counting began at 0800 local time (0230 GMT) and with electronic voting machines being used the first trends were quickly available. State television Doordarshan said that at 1415 local time across all 543 seats, the Congress alliance was ahead in 249, the BJP coalition in 164 and the Third Front in 60 with others at 70. Congress appears to be doing far better than had been expected, confounding predictions particularly in Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. Congress alliance spokesman Kapil Sibal told Reuters news agency: "Together with our alliance partners, we will have a safe majority." Left-wing parties appear to be suffering major reverses in West Bengal and Kerala and the party of Dalit leader Mayawati is doing badly in Uttar Pradesh. Senior leftist leader Sitaram Yechury said: "It's the people's verdict." Only a few results have been confirmed so far - they included a win for former UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor for Congress in Kerala's capital, Trivandrum. Since polling ended on Wednesday, the two main parties have been involved in a series of political meetings, scrambling to gain pledges of support in a predicted hung parliament. The BBC in Delhi says there had been suggestions that both the Congress and BJP were losing relevance in India, ceding political space to smaller, local parties. But a major defeat for the BJP's LK Advani would certainly spell the end of his political career, he says. The main thrust of the Congress manifesto is on economic recovery and boosting growth while the BJP has focused on easing taxation and recovering money illegally stashed abroad. The prime movers of the Third Front are the leftist parties and the BSP of Mayawati. President's role Security was tight in a number of areas ahead of the results announcement. Meetings of five or more people have been banned across Rajasthan and victory processions barred in Uttar Pradesh. After the counting the focus will fall on President Pratibha Patil. There are no rules in the constitution on who she can invite to form a government. It could be the single largest party or most dominant coalition. She may ask for documented pledges of support. Turnout for the election has been put at about 60%, compared with 58 percent in 2004. Security has so far generally been considered a success, although about 60 people lost their lives, mostly in Maoist violence. India's new 543-seat parliament, with a new government in place, is supposed to sit by June 2.

Results day in India

Official results will flood in soon but the trends reported by state TV showed Congress ahead in 249 seats, the BJP in 164 and the Third Front in 60.

Congress supporters have already begun celebrating in Delhi.

Rajnath Singh, president of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, told reporters it had not expected this kind of result. "We will sit together later today, once all the results are out, and analyse what happened," he said.

Jaitley said: "Something certainly did go wrong... Our performance was not up to expectation."

Prakash Karat, the leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the key mover in the Third Front, accepted Congress had won.

"The CPM and the Left parties have suffered a major setback," he said.

The BBC in Delhi says that a small crowd has already gathered outside Congress headquarters to celebrate, banging drums and chanting slogans.

There has been at least one major setback for Congress. Home Minister P Chidambaram has lost his seat in Tamil Nadu, the Press Trust of India reported.

Safe majority

Counting began at 0800 local time (0230 GMT) and with electronic voting machines being used the first trends were quickly available.

State television Doordarshan said that at 1415 local time across all 543 seats, the Congress alliance was ahead in 249, the BJP coalition in 164 and the Third Front in 60 with others at 70.

Congress appears to be doing far better than had been expected, confounding predictions particularly in Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

Congress alliance spokesman Kapil Sibal told Reuters news agency: "Together with our alliance partners, we will have a safe majority."

Left-wing parties appear to be suffering major reverses in West Bengal and Kerala and the party of Dalit leader Mayawati is doing badly in Uttar Pradesh.

Senior leftist leader Sitaram Yechury said: "It's the people's verdict."

Only a few results have been confirmed so far - they included a win for former UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor for Congress in Kerala's capital, Trivandrum.

Since polling ended on Wednesday, the two main parties have been involved in a series of political meetings, scrambling to gain pledges of support in a predicted hung parliament.

The BBC in Delhi says there had been suggestions that both the Congress and BJP were losing relevance in India, ceding political space to smaller, local parties.

But a major defeat for the BJP's LK Advani would certainly spell the end of his political career, he says.

The main thrust of the Congress manifesto is on economic recovery and boosting growth while the BJP has focused on easing taxation and recovering money illegally stashed abroad.

The prime movers of the Third Front are the leftist parties and the BSP of Mayawati.

President's role

Security was tight in a number of areas ahead of the results announcement.

Meetings of five or more people have been banned across Rajasthan and victory processions barred in Uttar Pradesh.

After the counting the focus will fall on President Pratibha Patil.

There are no rules in the constitution on who she can invite to form a government. It could be the single largest party or most dominant coalition. She may ask for documented pledges of support.

Turnout for the election has been put at about 60%, compared with 58 percent in 2004.

Security has so far generally been considered a success, although about 60 people lost their lives, mostly in Maoist violence.

India's new 543-seat parliament, with a new government in place, is supposed to sit by June 2.