Maharashtra, Haryana Polls 2019 Results: As it happened

After elections, its time to move for government formation.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has called a meeting of newly-elected MLAs of the party. The meeting is likely to be held on Saturday, say sources. The meeting will be held at Matoshree, the residence of Uddhav Thackeray.

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis retained the seat of Nagpur South-West. He is expected to get second term as Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Fadnavis collected certificate of his election victory from election officers a while ago.

Post assembly election results, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the party workers. Here are the pointers from his speech

• I express my gratefulness to the voters of Maharashtra and Haryana for choosing the Bharatiya Janata Party
• The people of both the states have blessed the BJP workers for their hard work
• I am confident that the workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party will continue to serve the country
• Those who are aware of the governance of Haryana would know that we always agreed to the seat-sharing agreement with the parties in the past
• Devendra Fadnavis Ji and Manohar Lal Ji both were first-time chief ministers, they did not even have the experience as ministers. For 5 years, they kept working for people's welfare and as a result, people have again put their faith in them
• People have reposed faith in the leadership of Maharashtra, Haryana chief ministers
• BJP's vote share in Haryana went up to 36 per cent from 33 per cent; it shows people's endorsement of govt's work
• Upon receiving such massive number of votes, I want to assure the people of Haryana and Maharashtra that we will double the hard work to serve you
• The political pundits who are analysing today's election results, Haryana in itself is an exceptional win since these days there have been fewer instances of winning again after completing a 5-year term
• For 1st time in 50 years, a CM completed full term in Maharashtra; political stability must for state like it

While addressing the party workers, Amit Shah said in Maharashtra, BJP-Shiv Sena is going to form the govt once again with majority.

Below are some pointers from Amit Shah's speech

• In Haryana have seen a 3% increase in our vote share since the last time and we have emerged as the largest party there, I thank the people for this
• The BJP government abrogated Article 370 and brought several social reforms, that changed the lives of the people
• I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his leadership and congratulate him on the victory in assembly results
• I assure we will continue to serve the country like we have

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at BJP Headquarters in Delhi, to address party workers shortly.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday said it was clear from Maharashtra and Haryana poll results that the Congress is "losing ground" in the country and the outcome will also prove "beneficial" for the BJP to win all the 15 seats in the coming by-polls. Speaking to reporters, he said in Maharashtra, the BJP along with Shiv Sena has got a clear majority, while in Haryana also BJP will form the government along with
independents.

"In both states (Haryana and Maharashtra), BJP is forming the government, all of us had expected it, due to some reasons we (BJP) may be short of a few seats, but one thing is clear from election after election that the Congress is losing ground in the country," Yediyurappa said.

Result declared for by-election in Jhabua of Madhya Pradesh. The lone seat has been won by Congress party

The Congress in Uttar Pradesh has doubled its vote percentage even though it failed to win a single seat in by-polls in 11 seats. The Election Commission said that the Congress got 11.6 per cent of votes.

The party contested on all 11 seats but could not win one. Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi said, "I am happy that the vote percentage of Congress has improved."

The party candidates in Gangoh, Noman Masood, and Karishma Thakur in Govindnagar came second.

The Congress has called two meetings on Friday, one to discuss the results of the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections and other key issues like the coming Winter Session of Parliament, the proposed RCEP agreement and PSUs divestment, and the other on the NRC.

Among the 17 leaders who have been called for the first meet are former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former party President Rahul Gandhi. 
 

Five candidates who hail from Chautala village and represent different parties have registered victories in the assembly elections, keeping intact the Devi Lal legacy in Haryana politics. While two of them belong to the JJP, one each was elected on the symbol of the INLD and the Congress.
One candidate was elected as an independent.

Chautala is a village in Dabwali subdivision of Sirsa on the Haryana-Rajasthan border, to which former deputy prime minister Devi Lal and ex-chief minister Om Prakash Chautala belong.

OP Chautala is currently lodged in the Tihar, along with his son Ajay Singh, following a conviction in a teacher recruitment scam.

In the assembly elections, the results of which were declared on Thursday, Om Prakash Chautala's younger son Abhay Chautala made a hattrick from his traditional Ellenabad assembly seat, beating Pawan Beniwal of the BJP.

Abhay was the lone candidate of the Indian National Lok Dal who romped home from his traditional bastion even as his party was decimated in the polls.

The Samajwadi Party wrested the Zaidpur constituency from the BJP and retained Rampur while the ruling party and its ally Apna Dal(S) bagged six seats, as counting continued in three other seats of the Uttar Pradesh assembly bypolls on Thursday. Of the 11 seats, where by-polls were held on October 21, eight were held by the BJP while the Pratapgarh seat was held by its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal). Rampur was held by the SP and Jalalpur by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

In the results declared on Thursday, the BJP retained Balha, Gangoh, Lucknow Cantonment, Iglas and Govindnagar seats while the Apna Dal (S) held on to Pratapgarh.

In Gangoh, BJP candidate Kirat Singh defeated his nearest rival Nooman Masud of the Congress by over 5,400 votes. In Rampur, Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan's wife Tazeen Fatma defeated the BJP's Bharat Bhushan by over 7,700 votes.

The ruling TRS in Telangana on Thursday won the October 21 bypoll to Huzurnagar Assembly constituency by a margin of more than 43,000 votes over its nearest Congress rival N Padmavati Reddy. The Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led party maintained a consistent lead over the opposition Congress during the counting of votes from the first round.

TRS nominee S Saidi Reddy polled 1,13,095 while 69,737 votes were polled in favour of the Congress candidate, according to the figures put out by the Chief electoral Officer.

Expressing confidence over his victory, Saidi Reddy credited the leadership of TRS president and Chief Minister Rao for his impressive performance.

The TRS leaders and workers began celebrations over the party's good show.

We accept the people's mandate humbly and respectfully. We also want to say that it is a moral defeat for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). PM Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and their entire leadership was cut off from the ground reality, says Congress' Anand Sharma

Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanks the voters of Haryana and Maharashtra

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan defeats BJP's Shriniwas Gorthekar by 97,445 votes in Bhokar Assembly seat. 

Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray, who made history by becoming the first member of his family to take the poll plunge, has marked his arrival in
Maharashtra politics with a bang and is likely to play a key role in the next state government and help expand his party. The 29-year-old next-gen Thackeray, whom his party wants to be the deputy chief minister in the BJP-Sena alliance government, won with a thumping majority from Mumbai's Worli constituency.

The Yuva Sena leader is now likely to make his party, which was rooted in the 'sons of the soil' agenda and later embraced the Hindutva ideology, more inclusive and broad-based.

In the run-up to the polls, he conducted several roadshows, foot marches and raised issues like cutting of trees in Aarey Colony and Mumbai's nightlife and said he wants to make the constituency a "model of development".

He also reached out to non-Marathi voters in the constituency to romp home a big win.

Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arrive at party headquarters.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and party leader JP Nadda also present

Victory in the by-elections in the tribal belt of Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh and Chitrakote in Chhattisgarh has given the Congress some reason to cheer after the humiliating show in the Lok Sabha election.

Kantilal Bhuria of Congress won the Jhabua ST seat defeating Bhanu Bhuria of BJP by over 27,000 votes and Rajman Benzam won the bypoll from the Naxal-affected Chitrakote constituency, reserved ST seat by 17,862 votes against Lachhuram Kashyap of the BJP.

Bhuria, former PCC chief and former Union minister sustained the lead right through the 25 rounds of counting. Bhanu Bhuria who headed the youth wing of the BJP fought gamely. Bhanu, however, said the Congress won the election with ample help from the administration. The Congress workers had done little to deserve any credit, especially after two successive defeats of the father and son duo in a span of six months.

Samajwadi Party on Thursday retained its Rampur assembly seat, which fell vacant after Azam Khan successfully fought the Lok Sabha polls with his wife emerging victorious by a margin of over 7,000 votes. Khan's wife and SP candidate Tazeen Fatma won by defeating her nearest rival BJP candidate Bharat Bhushan.

While Tazeen secured 79,043 votes, Bhushan got 71,327 votes.

Congress candidate Arshad Ali Khan got 4,182 votes while BSP's Zubair Masood Khan secured 3,441 votes.

In Gangoh, the BJP retained the seat with its candidate Kirat Singh defeating his nearest rival Congress candidate Nooman Masud.

While the BJP candidate secured 68,300 votes, Masud got 62,881 votes. Samajwadi Party candidate Inder Sain got 57,374 votes while BSP candidate Mohd Irshad got 32,276 votes. 

BJP president Amit Shah indicated on Thursday that his party will stake claim to form the next government in Haryana after the assembly election results threw up a hung verdict. The BJP was either winning or leading in 40 seats in the elections to the 90-member state assembly, according to the latest election commission figures, falling short of the majority mark of 46.

"The (Manohar Lal) Khattar government in Haryana has made every effort for people's welfare under the central leadership of (Narendra) Modi. I thank people for making the BJP the single-largest party and giving it another opportunity to serve them," Shah said in a tweet.

He congratulated Chief Minister Khattar and state party chief Subhash Barala.

Shah also thanked voters in Maharashtra for "reposing their faith" in BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the state.

Results showed that the saffron alliance was set to get a majority, even though its overall numbers appeared to be falling short of their 2014 tally.

CM Yogi Adityanath: On 8 out of the 11 seats (UP by-polls), BJP and its allies have registered victory. I congratulate all the candidates who have won today. PM Modi's 'mantra' of 'Sabka saath sabka vikas' has become the 'mantra' of the politics in India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday, asked party workers to make a list of old and senior party workers and establish a connection with them.

"Draw up a list of very old party workers in your area. Visit them and organise a get-together with them. Meet them in times of happiness and distress. You should ask them about the history of the party and how they worked. Their stories will give you inspiration and encourage you to work harder because they have worked when no one knew about the party and its ideology," he said.

Modi was interacting with party workers in Varanasi on the eve of Diwali on Thursday evening through video conferencing.

The Prime Minister began the interaction with 'Har Har Mahadev' and greeted his party workers in Bhojpuri.

Result declared for by-election in the two seats of Tamil Nadu, AIADMK wins both the seats

Amit Shah thanks the voters of Haryana and Maharashtra

Haryana Minister and BJP leader Anil Vij has won from Ambala Cantonment Assembly constituency

Former Maharashtra deputy chief minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Thursday won from the Baramati assembly seat by a huge margin of 1,65,265 votes, according to the Election Commission. Ajit Pawar, the nephew of NCP president Sharad Pawar, polled 1,95,641 votes, while his nearest rival, Gopichand Padalkar of the BJP, bagged just 30,376 votes.

According to NCP office-bearers, this was a record-breaking victory margin for Ajit Pawar in Baramati, a bastion of the Pawar family in western Maharashtra's Pune district.

In 2014, Ajit Pawar had won from the seat with a margin of 89,791 votes. With this thumping victory, Ajit Pawar retained Baramati for a sixth straight term.

Official trends by the Election Commission

BJP has won 26 seats and is leading on 14 taking a total lead on 40 seats

Congress has won 20 seats and is leading on 11, taking a total lead on 31 seats

Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) has won 10 seats

Manohar Lal Khattar likely to meet Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya, will stake claim to form government in Haryana

OBC leader and BJP candidate Alpesh Thakor loses Radhanpur Assembly by-poll in Gujarat by over 3,500 votes

Aaditya Thackeray, Shiv Sena, on his victory from Worli assembly constituency: I am very happy that the people have blessed me with so much margin and so many votes.

The ruling parties in Tamil Nadu - AIADMK - and Puducherry - Congress - emerged victors in the Assembly bypolls held on October 21. The AIADMK candidates won the Vikravandi and Nanguneri Assembly seats while Congress party won the Kamaraj Nagar seat in Puducherry.

AIADMK's R. Muthamilselvan won from Vikravandi, polling 113,428 votes while his DMK rival N. Pugazhenthi had polled 68,646 votes.

In Nanguneri, AIADMK candidate V.Narayanan polled 94,802 votes while his Congress rival Ruby R. Manohar had polled 61,991 votes.

Mumbai: Shiv Sena's Aaditya Thackeray collects his winning certificate after winning from Worli constituency

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday hailed the Congress victory in the assembly bypolls and termed the SAD defeat in Jalalabad as the rejection of their "negative agenda".

"The Akalis clearly failed to learn a lesson from their previous electoral defeats and continued to engage in negative campaigning, including the politicisation of religion," Amarinder Singh said, adding that their defeat in Sukhbir Badal's "self-proclaimed stronghold" of Jalalabad was a "total rejection of their negative agenda".

People had made it clear that there was no place for the parties who did not work for their welfare, he said in a statement here after the Congress emerged victorious in Phagwara, Mukerian and Jalalabad assembly segments. 

Congress' Kantilal Bhuria defeats BJP nominee Bhanu Bhuria in Jhabua Assembly bypoll by over 27,800 votes.

Former Haryana chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda defeated ruling BJP candidate Satish Nandal by a huge margin on Thursday.

Hooda, party's state legislature party leader, defeated Nandal by 58,312 votes from his stronghold Garhi Sampla-Kiloi in Rohtak district. 

The ruling Congress in Rajasthan won the assembly by-poll to Mandawa seat while the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) retained the Khinwsar constituency. The BJP and RLP had contested the bypoll to Khinwsar seat in an alliance.

The Congress' Rita Chaudhary defeated her nearest rival the BJP's Sushila Sigra in the Mandawa seat in Jhunjhunu by a margin of 33,704 votes. Chaudhary got 59.33 per cent of the total votes polled.

The Khinwsar seat in Nagaur was won by the RLP's Narayan Beniwal, who is the brother of the party convener and MP Hanuman Beniwal.
Narayan Beniwal defeated his nearest rival Congress' Harendra Mirdha, a former minister, by a margin of 4,630 votes.

The bypolls were necessitated after BJP MLA Narendra Kumar from Mandawa and RLP MLA Hanuman Beniwal were elected as Members of Parliament in May this year.

The SP wrested the Zaidpur seat from the ruling BJP as votes were counted for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly bypolls on Thursday, while the saffron party retained the Balha and Lucknow Cantonment seats and its ally Apna Dal (S) held on to Pratapgarh, even as the results for seven other seats were yet to be announced.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading in five seats, while the Samajwadi Party (SP) was ahead in Rampur and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Jalalpur.

The first results came from Zaidpur, where SP's Gaurav Kumar defeated BJP's Ambrish by 4,165 votes and wrested the seat from the ruling party.

The Balha (reserved) seat was retained by the BJP, where the saffron party's Saroj Sonekar defeated her nearest rival, SP's Kiran Bharti, by a margin of 46,487 votes.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis addresses press conference post assembly election results 

• A clear mandate by voters; next govt will be of BJP-Sena mahayuti (grand alliance)
• I am grateful to the people of Maharashtra for accepting the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance
• We will review the defeat of our ministers
• We are going to go ahead according to what has been decided between Shiv Sena and us (BJP). What has been decided is something which you will get to know when the time is right
• 15 independent MLAs have contacted me and they are ready to come with us. Others may also come but these 15 will come with us. Most of them are BJP or Shiv Sena rebels

Prime Minister addressed party workers 

• The festive season is here and everyone is busy with preparations. I am glad to communicate with all of you at this time.
• I extend Diwali wishes to everyone
• I salute the jawans of the Army and the security forces, who are posted at the border to guard the country
• The way party workers are helping to implement many development projects in Varanasi, it is a matter of pride and satisfaction for me

The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Thursday wrested the Huzurnagar Assembly seat from the Congress with a huge majority of over 43,000 votes. S Saidi Reddy of TRS defeated his nearest rival Padmavathi Reddy of Congress by 43,233 votes in what turned out to be a one-sided contest, proving wrong all predictions of a close fight.

In the first by-poll since retaining power with a landslide majority in December 2018, the TRS scored an impressive victory by polling 1,12,796 votes out of 2,00,239 votes polled. Saidi Reddy secured 56.45 per cent votes.

Padmavathi Reddy, wife of state Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy, could only secure 30.46 per cent of the polled votes.

Prince Raj of LJP wins Samastipur Lok Sabha seat defeating Ashok Kumar of Congress by over 1 lakh votes

Apna Dal (Sonelal) candidate Rajkumar Pal won the Pratapgarh assembly seat by defeating Samajwadi Party candidate Brijesh Verma by 29,714 votes.
Apna Dal (S), an ally of the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh, has retained the seat. 

The BJP on Thursday retained the Lucknow Cantonment seat with its nominee Suresh Chandra Tiwari defeating nearest rival Samajwadi Party candidate Major Ashish Chaturvedi with a comfortable margin.

While Tiwari secured 56,684 votes, Chaturvedi got 21,261 votes and Congress' Dilpreet Singh and BSP's Arun Dwivedi got 19,445 and 10,709 votes respectively, official sources said.

The Lucknow Cantonment seat was held by BJP's Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who vacated the seat in 2017 after winning the Lok Sabha election from Allahabad.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray addresses the media in Mumbai

• BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is ready to form government in Maharashtra
• 50-50 seat-sharing formula, which was decided upon at the time of Lok Sabha elections, will be implemented now
• The formula will be discussed upon the arrival of Amit Shah
• Sena contested fewer seats on BJP's request; we can't be so accommodating always
• Maharashtra mandate an eye-opener for many

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis celebrates with party workers at Mumbai BJP office

BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Thursday blamed shortcomings in the "election management" to his party's middling performance in the Haryana assembly elections. It would nonetheless be able to form government again in the northern state, he stated. Haryana elections were heading towards a photo-finish with the ruling BJP and opposition Congress locked in a neck-and-neck battle as the counting of votes was underway on
Thursday.

"I can clearly see the shortcomings in our management of Haryana elections. BJP rebels fought elections and we failed to persuade them (to pull out)," Vijayvargiya told reporters.

The Congress is up in arms over its candidate Noman Masood being declared defeated in the last round in the bypoll to the Gangoh Assembly constituency. UP Congress leaders sat on a dharna at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Lucknow to protest against this 'malpractice'.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted, "The BJP is so full of arrogance that its minister is trying to change the people's verdict by driving our winning candidate out of the counting centre. District Magistrate was called five times on the phone to reduce the lead of our candidate. This is an insult to democracy and the UP Congress will strongly fight against this. The Election Commission must get this probed impartially."

The ruling Congress won three Assembly seats, while the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) won one in the Punjab bypolls, the results of which were announced on Thursday. While the Congress won the Jalalabad, Phagwara and Mukerian seats, the SAD came up trumps in Dakha.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh hailed his party's victory in three of the four Assembly segments, particularly in SAD president Sukhbir Badal's "self-proclaimed" stronghold of Jalalabad, and described it as a total rejection of the negative agenda of the Akalis.

Congress's Raminder Awla defeated SAD's Raj Singh Dibipura by a margin of 16,633 votes in Jalalabad, officials said.

Jalalabad was considered to be a citadel of the Akalis as they had represented the seat in the Assembly since 2007. The seat fell vacant after the sitting MLA, Sukhbir Singh Badal was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Ferozepur parliamentary segment in the general election held in April-May.

Making his political debut, Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday won from the Worli Assembly constituency in Mumbai, an election official said. The 29-year-old Yuva Sena chief, who is the first member from Thackeray family to contest an election, defeated his NCP rival Suresh Mane by a margin of over 70,000 votes.

In the run-up to the polls, Aaditya Thackeray held several roadshows, foot marches and raised issues like cutting of trees in Aarey Colony and Mumbai's nightlife.

The young Sena leader, during his campaigns, said he wants to make his constituency a "model of development". He had also reached out to non-Marathi voters in the constituency.

PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister and Amit Shah will meet and address the party workers at the party headquarters this evening. 

I haven't seen the latest trends, really happy at both (Haryana and Maharashtra), says Congress General Secretary for UP (East) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Raebareli. 

We also are happy about the fact that here in UP our vote percentage has increased, Priyanka Gandhi said. 

Counting of slips from a VVPAT is underway, says JJP'S Dushyant Chautala. 

As soon as I get the certificate, I'll discuss with everyone, hold a meeting with MLAs tomorrow and decide the future course of action. Too early to say anything. I believe the state wants a change and JJP will bring it, Chautala says.

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Rita Sahu clinched victory in the Bijepur Assembly by-poll in Odisha's Bargarh district by a record margin of 97,990 votes on Thursday. She also broke records by getting the highest ever votes in an Assembly election in the state.

Rita Sahu secured 1,35,957 votes while her nearest rival Sanat Gartia of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged 37, 967 votes and the Congress candidate managed to get only 5873 votes, said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sushil Kumar Lohani.

"I am very happy that the people blessed me with such huge number. I would like to thank the people and the Chief Minister for having faith in me," said an elated Rita Sahu.

The Congress on Wednesday described the results of the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections as "encouraging" saying that the government "crushing" the voice of the opposition is now being questioned by the people. Speaking to reporters at the party headquarters, Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal said, "This is encouraging result for the Congress and the nation."

"If the government is trying to crush the opposition's voice, it is being questioned by the people and the same has been seen in Maharashtra and Haryana."

The Congress was leading on 34 out of 90 seats in Haryana while the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party alliance was leading on 104 out of 288 seats in Maharashtra.

Samajwadi Party's Gaurav Kumar on Thursday won the Zaidpur assembly bypoll seat defeating the BJP candidate. Kumar defeated BJP's candidate Amrish by a margin of 4,165 votes.

The BJP government in Haryana had done a "brilliant job" in the past five years but there has been some communication gap between the party and the voters, senior party leader Kailash Vijayvargiya said on Thursday as the state appeared poised for a hung assembly. As per the latest trends in Haryana, where BJP led government headed by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was in power in the last five years, is headed for a hung assembly.

"Although we have done good work in Haryana in the last five years, it seems there has been some communication gap between voters and the party. It seems that we couldn't take our message to the voters," Vijayvargiya, who party's national general secretary and Bengal minder, told a Bengali news channel.

The opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Thursday wrested the Simri Bakhtiyarpur assembly seat from the ruling JD(U) in Bihar, an election official said. RJD's Zafar Alam defeated JD(U)candidate Arun Kumar by a comprehensive margin of 15,508 votes, the official said.

The by-election to the Assembly seat was necessitated after former state minister and JD(U) MLA Dinesh Chandra Yadav was elected to the Lok Sabha from Madhepura seat.

In a blow to the Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Manpreet Singh Ayali defeated ruling party nominee Sandeep Singh Sandhu from the Dakha seat by a margin of 14,672 votes.

The Dakha seat fell vacant following the resignation of former AAP leader and noted Supreme Court lawyer H S Phoolka from the state assembly.

Nearly 100 per cent polling was recorded in Jammu district in the maiden Block Development Council (BDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The electoral exercise, the first in the state after the abrogation of its special status, was boycotted by the Congress, the National Conference and the PDP.

"Jammu district has registered a polling percentage of 99.5. Out of the 2,703 voters, 2,690 voted in 20 blocks," District Electoral Officer Sushma Chauhan said.

The polling percentage till 11 am was 50 per cent and when it ended at 1 pm it was 99.5 per cent, she said. Polling in Jammu began at 9 am.
Chauhan said 1,797 men and 893 women exercised their franchise.

The polls to elect chairpersons of BDCs was held in 310 blocks in the state and 1,092 candidates were in the fray, of which 27 were elected unopposed. 

Shiv Sena-BJP 'Mahayuti' is racing ahead in Maharashtra. The combine has a comfortable lead over Congress and NCP. 

However, Congress and NCP seem poised to better their seat tally as compared to 2014 Maharashtra elections.

In 2014, The Congress and NCP bagged 42 and 41 seats respectively.

The ruling NDA in Bihar came out with a dismal performance on Thursday in by-elections to five assembly segments of the state, touted as the "semi-final" ahead of the Vidhan Sabha polls scheduled next year. But, in Samastipur Lok Sabha seat, its constituent LJP, seems poised to comfortably retain the reserved constituency which fell vacant upon the death of party's sitting MP Ram Chandra Paswan.

His son Prince Raj is ahead of his nearest Congress rival Ashok Kumar by a margin of more than 80,000 votes in Samastipur Parliamentary seat.

The poor showing of the ruling coalition in the assembly by-elections has come months after it won 39 out of a total 40 Lok Sabha seats in the parliamentary poll in the state.

The ruling BJP and ally Apna Dal (S) improved their leads and are ahead in eight places as counting progressed in 11 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. The BJP is now leading in seven seats and ally Apna Dal (S) in one. The Samajwadi Party is ahead in two, while the Bahujan Samaj Party is leading in the remaining seat.

The Congress, which was initially ahead in Gangoh constituency, was overtaken by the ruling saffron party in later rounds of counting.

The BJP is also leading in Manikpur, Ghosi, Iglas, Lucknow Cantt, Govindnagar and Balha, while ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) is ahead in Pratapgarh. The SP is ahead in Rampur and Zaidpur, while the BSP is ahead in Jalalpur.

Of the 11 seats of the state where by-polls were held on Monday, eight were held by the BJP and one by ally Apna Dal (Sonelal). Two other seats were shared by the Samajwadi Party and the BSP.

Result declared for by-election to Bijepur seat of Odisha. Biju Janata Dal (BJD) party wins the lone seat for which by-polls were held in the state

Result declared for by-election to Chitrakote seat of Chhattisgarh. Congress party wins the lone seat for which by-polls were held in the state.

BJP's Haryana chief Subhash Barala says that he has not resigned from his post and that the news of his resignation is a rumour

Official trends from the Election Commission

BJP - 37                

Congress - 34

JJP - 6                               

INLD - 1

HLP - 1

Independent - 5  

The Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which emerged as kingmaker in the Haryana Assembly elections on Thursday, refused to open its cards as the Congress courted it to form government in the state where the polls have thrown up a hung House.

JJP leader Dushyant Singh Chautala said he has called a meeting of the party executive at 11 a.m. on Friday in Delhi to discuss the party's strategy. His comments came amid reports that he was insisting on the chief minister's post as a condition for a post-poll tie-up.

Latest trends showed that no party was in a position to cross the half-way mark in the 90-member Haryana Assembly.

Newcomer Jannayak Janata Dal (JJP) was leading in 9 constituencies and may possibly play the kingmaker, along with Independents, who were leading in 6 Assembly segments.

"I believe the key to the new government is in the hands of the JJP," said Dushyant Chautala earlier in the day as counting trends indicated rapid gains for the Congress, with the BJP not even likely to cross the halfway mark.

Haryana's Finance Minister Abhimanyu lost to Jannayak Janata Party candidate Ram Kumar Gautam from the Narnaund constituency in Hisar district.

Abhimanyu, a senior leader, was defeated by Gautam by a margin of 12,029 votes, as per the result declared by the Election Commission.

Gautam has also remained a former MLA of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Meanwhile, from Prithla segment, Nayan Pal Rawat, an Independent, registered a win over Congress' Raghubir Tewatia by a margin of 16,429 votes.

Congress candidate Indu Bala won from Mukerian seat in Punjab by defeating her BJP nominee Jangi Lal Mahajan with a margin of 3,440 votes on Thursday.

The seat fell vacant following the death of Congress MLA Rajnish Kumar Babbi. Indu Bala is the wife of Babbi.

The ruling Congress in Rajasthan is heading towards victory in Mandawa seat where its candidate Rita Chaudhary is leading by a margin of over 30,000 votes. BJP candidate Sushila Sigra is the rival candidate in Mandawa.

In Khinwsar, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party candidate Narayan Beniwal is leading by a margin of 4,600 votes. Congress candidate and former minister Harendra Mirdha is trailing behind.

Official trends by the Election Commission

BJP has won 5 seats and leading in 97 constituencies

Shiv Sena has won 5 seats and is leading in 55 constituencies

NCP has won 1 seat and is leading in 54 constituencies

Indian National Congress leading in 44

Congress' Randeep Singh Surjewala speaks to the media after losing from Kaithal, says I accept the mandate of the people. 

Official trends by the Election Commission

BJP is leading on 39 seats

Congress on 33 seats 

Haryana minister Krishan Kumar Bedi lost to Jannayak Janta Party rival Ram Karan from the Shahbad reserved constituency on Thursday. Bedi lost by a margin of 37,127 votes to the JJP candidate, as per the result declared by the Election Commission.

As per the latest trends, several ministers in the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government in the state were trailing from their respective constituencies.

Congress party's Zeeshan Siddique leading by a margin of 5567 votes against Shiv Sena candidate and Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar

The BJP won three Assembly seats, the Shiv Sena bagged two and an Independent candidate emerged victorious on one seat in Maharashtra on Thursday, as per the results announced by the Election Commission so far. Senior BJP leader and state school education minister Ashish Shelar won from Bandra-West seat in Mumbai by defeating Congress' Asif Zakaria by 26,507 votes.

BJP's Parag Shah defeated Satish Pawar of the MNS by a margin of 53,319 votes from Ghatkopar-East seat in Mumbai. Besides, Sunil Rane of the BJP won from Borivali Assembly seat in Mumbai by defeating his Congress rival Kumar Khilare by 95,021 votes.

Shiv Sena leader Sunil Prabhu defeated NCP's Vidya Chavan from Dindoshi Assembly seat in Mumbai by 44,511 votes.

Aaditya Thackeray leads by 52,000 votes from Worli

Congress candidate and present deputy mayor T J Vinod has won the Ernakulam assembly seat. This has been the sitting seat of the Congress for a while now, but the margin of victory has come down from over 21,000 votes to around 4000 votes.

"I dedicate this victory to my voters. The margin has to do with the heavy rains on the polling day," said Vinod.

Of the six Assembly seats in Gujarat where by-polls were held on October 21, the Congress is now leading on four seats while the ruling BJP is ahead on two seats. In Radhanpur (Patan district), OBC leader and BJP candidate Alpesh Thakor is trailing behind Congress' Raghu Desai by over 8,700 votes.

In Bayad (Arvalli), BJP candidate Dhavalsinh Zala is trailing behind Congress' Jashu Patel by over 700 votes. Sensing defeat, Zala left the counting centre and even accepted his defeat.

Due to technical glitches in two EVMs, VVPAT slips are being counted in Bayad.

Shiv Sena's Ajay Choudhary wins by a margin of 39,337 votes in Shivadi constituency

Congress' Randeep Singh Surjewala loses by 567 votes in Kaithal

NCP's Sharad Pawar has addressed a press conference. Here are the pointers from his speech

• It is true that the BJP-Shiv Sena are all set to form a government in Maharashtra
• The Opposition has worked hard and all members of Congress-NCP and allies have delivered and have given their best
• Power comes, power goes but it is important to remain committed to a cause and we thank people for the love they showed
• One important thing to see is that people who left us, have not been accepted
• Defections have not worked in favour of those who left
• We will soon hold a meeting to discuss certain things about the elections, with our supporters and decide our future course of action
• We have tried to perform to the best of our abilities
• NCP-Congress and other allies will decide together, the future course of action. We will not go with Shiv Sena

Haryana BJP chief Subash Barala has resigned after election trends showed both the ruling party and the Congress being locked in a tough contest with no one looking set to attain a majority on its own in the 90-member assembly.
 

Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has addressed a press conference. Below are the pointers from his speech:

• The independent candidates are being threatened
• Congress will form strong government in Haryana 
• JJP-INLD should come together with us to form government in the state
• I assure respect and prestige to those who join hands with us
• Those who claimed of winning more than 75 seats have been limited to 35

The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance was on the road to power in Maharashtra while Haryana emerged a cliffhanger with no clear majority for either the BJP or the Congress, Election Commission trends indicated as votes for the assembly polls held this week were counted on Thursday.

The BJP electoral juggernaut could have slowed down in the first assembly elections since the party's triumph in the parliamentary polls this summer, the trends indicated.

While the BJP did not appear to be headed for the emphatic win it was expecting in the states it had ruled for five years, the Congress took a back seat to its partner NCP in Maharashtra but was poised to substantially better its tally in Haryana, according to the trends.   

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will reach Delhi Thursday evening and hold meetings with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and top party leaders to strategise on forming the government in the state, sources said. Gandhi has already spoken with Hooda and given him the go-ahead to work towards forming the government, they said.

"Former Haryana CM Hooda is already in touch with JJP and Independents," a source close to him said.

Hectic political parleys are on with the BJP and the Congress locked in a tough contest on Thursday. There were no clear winners in the 90-member assembly, according to the latest trends.

The BJP was ahead in 36 seats, the Congress in 35 and the fledgeling Jannayak Janta Party in 10. Independents are ahead in six, the BSP in one and the INLD in two.

The Congress last month named Kumari Selja chief of its state unit and appointed Hooda chairperson of the election management committee.

BJP candidate Udayanraje Bhosale trailing behind NCP nominee Shriniwas Patil by 41,255 votes in Maharashtra's Satara Lok Sabha seat 

BJP wins Pachhad seat in Himachal bypolls

Bharatiya Janata Party's Babita Phogat trailing by 1410 votes in Dadri assembly constituency

Close fight between Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress in Haryana

BJP - 35

Congress - 35

BJP's Pankaja Munde loses to Dhananjay Munde from Parli

Celebrations at BJP state office in Mumbai

Seven ministers are trailing as both the ruling BJP and the Congress are locked in a tough contest on Thursday with no party looking set to attain a majority on its own in the 90-member assembly, according to the latest trends. The BJP, which had set a target of winning 75 seats ahead of the polls, is leading in 38 seats, while the Congress is ahead in 32 constituencies.

The fledgeling Jannayak Janta Party, which fought its maiden assembly polls, is also ahead in 10 seats. If the trends hold, the JJP could likely emerge as the kingmaker and hold the key to the formation of the next government.

The Indian National Lok Dal is ahead in two seats, while the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Loktanter Suraksha Party are leading in one constituency each, according to the latest trends.

As per official trends from the Election Commission

Wrestler and BJP candidate from Baroda, Yogeshwar Dutt trailing by 3590 votes

Result declared for By-election Konni, Kerala

Adv. KU Jenish Kumarof Communist Party of India (Marxist) won the seat with a margin of 9953 votes.

Counting underway for other 4 by-elections held at Manjeshwar, Eranakulam, Aroor and Vattiyoorkavu

Trends in all Assembly seats in Haryana

BJP - 39

Congress - 29 

Jannayak Janata Party - 11

INLD - 2

BSP - 1

Others - 7

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday said his party and the BJP will form the next government in Maharashtra, and stressed the two parties will
stick to the pre-decided "50-50" sharing formula. With the early trends suggesting the NCP and the Congress collectively fairing better than the 2014 polls, Raut ruled out the possibility of the Shiv Sena joining hands with the opposition parties to form the government.

"The BJP and Shiv Sena will form government in Maharashtra," he told reporters. Asked about the possibility of the Shiv Sena embracing the NCP and Congress to form the government, Raut said, "No, we fought the polls in alliance with the BJP. We will go ahead with the tie-up. There will be no change in the pre-decided 50-50 formula."

He said Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will hold talks on implementing the formula.

Trends in all 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra

BJP leading in 101

Shiv Sena 64

Congress 40

NCP 50

Independents in 16 seats

Balajied Kupar Synrem of the United Democratic Party (UDP) is leading over his nearest rival Grace Mary Kharpuri, an independent candidate, by over
5,000 votes in the by-poll to Shella Assembly constituency in Meghalaya.

While Synrem has garnered 10,586 votes, Kharpuri has secured 5,162 votes, as per the latest trends.

The by-election to the seat in the East Khasi Hills district has been necessitated following the death of Synrem's father Donkupar Roy, who was the sitting MLA.

Voting underway in Doda for Block Development Councils (BDC) elections

Big names in Haryana BJP trailing 

Some big names in Haryana BJP are trailing as per the latest update. The margins are however very slim and things are changing fast. Prominent leaders who are trailing in Haryana are:

Ram Bilas Sharma

Capt Abhimanyu

BJP chief Subhash Barala 

Haryana Assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal

Kavita Jain 

Manish Grover 

Karan Dev Kamboj

Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena: I am going to meet Uddhav Ji. Number itne bure bhi nahi hain, aisa hota hai kabhi kabhi. Yes, we will definitely continue with the alliance. We have agreed upon a 50-50 formula

Independent candidate from Khonsa West constituency, Chakat Aboh (wife of NPP leader Tirong Aboh who was shot dead in May) wins

Bharatiya Janata Party's Babita Phogat leading with a margin of 2387 votes in Dadri assembly constituency

Rita Sahu of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) was leading by 56,126 votes over her nearest rival Sanat Gartia of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the bypoll to the Bijepur Assembly constituency in Odisha.

At the end of the 11th round, Sahu has garnered 77,359 votes while Gartia secured 21,233 votes. Congress candidate Dillip Kumar Panda was a distant third with just 3,074 votes.

The ruling BJP won the Dharamsala seat, while it is on its way to retain the Pachhad seat in Himachal Pradesh where by-polls were held on October 21, election officials said on Thursday.

BJP candidate Vishal Nehriya won Dharamsala by a margin of 6,673 votes. He defeated his nearest rival Rakesh Kumar, an independent candidate. Congress candidate Vijay Inder Karan was in third place.

In Pachhad, Reena Kashyap of the BJP is leading by 1,543 votes over her nearest rival Gangu Ram Musafir of the Congress after the first round of counting.

Nearly 68 per cent of the 1,56,624 voters exercised their franchise on Monday for the by-elections.

Congress candidate in Dharmshala Vijay Inder Karan on Thursday lost his security deposit in the bypoll as he failed to get even the required one-sixth of the total votes polled. Karan could get only 8,212 votes out of the valid 5,2485 votes polled. He got 15.64 per cent votes whereas he was required to get 16.67 per cent (one-sixth) of total valid votes to save his deposit.

The main contest was between BJP candidate Vishal Nehria and rebel candidate Rakesh Kumar, who contested as an Independent.

Nehria defeated Kumar by a margin of 6,758 votes. A total of seven candidates were in the fray.

The Congress candidate was narrowly leading on Thursday against his BJP rival in the Jhabua Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh, according to the initial trends in the counting of votes for the by-election held on Monday.

Election Commission officials said that Congress' Kantilal Bhuria (12,583 votes) held a slight edge over the BJP's Bhanu Bhuria (11,299 votes) after the third round of counting.

The officials said the counting would be completed in 26 rounds. 

Counting of votes was underway for one Lok Sabha and five Assembly seats in Bihar on Thursday. Lok Janshakti Party's (LJP) Prince Singh is leading in the Samastipur Lok Sabha seat. According to the latest trends, the NDA is leading in two of the five Assembly seats -- Simri Bakhtiyarpur and Nathnagar.

The RJD is leading in Belhar and in Kishenganj the BJP candidate Sweety Singh is trailing behind the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate Kamrul Hoda.

In Daraundha Assembly seat Independent candidate Karanjit Singh is leading.

A total of 51 candidates are in the fray, out of which only six are women. The by-polls are being viewed as a precursor to next year's Assembly election in the state.  

Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar over Haryana assembly election results

The ruling Congress in Puducherry on Thursday retained the Kamaraj Nagar Assembly seat with its nominee A John Kumar emerging victorious in the
by-poll, defeating his nearest AINRC rival S Bhuvaneswarane by a margin of 7,170 votes.

While John Kumar, a confidante of Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, polled 14,782 votes out of the total 24,310 polled in the by-election held on October 21, the AINRC nominee secured 7,612 votes.

Ruling Congress party candidates are leading in both the assembly constituencies in Rajasthan where bypolls were held on Monday. Congress candidate Rita Chaudhary is leading with a margin of 7,745 votes in Mandawa against BJP's Sushila Sigra.

In Nagaur's Khinwsar constituency, Congress candidate Harendra Mirdha is leading with a margin of 144 votes. The margin on the Khinwar seat was higher initially but it was reduced considerably in the later rounds.

BJP-RLP alliance candidate Narayan Beniwal is trailing in this seat. 

Shiv Sena's Aaditya Thackeray leading over Suresh Mane of the NCP by 16,393 votes in Worli. Mumbai mayor and Shiv Sena leader Vishwanath
Mahadeshwar leading over Independent nominee Trupti Sawant by 3,010 votes in Bandra-East. Senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal leading over his
Shiv Sena rival Sambhaji Pawar by 2,542 votes in Yeola.

BJP's Nitesh Rane was leading over Shiv Sena rival Satish Sawant by 5,017 votes in Kankavli.

Rohit Pawar, the grand nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, leading over BJP minister Ram Shinde by 7,211 votes in Karjat-Jamkhed.

Seven Haryana ministers, including Ram Bilas Sharma and Capt Abhimanyu, and State BJP chief Subhash Barala were trailing, as per early Election Commission trends. Haryana Assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal, a BJP legislator from Jagadhri, was also trailing in his constituency behind Congress' Akram Khan by a margin of 5,889 votes.

Sharma, a five-time legislator, was trailing by a slim margin of 329 votes against Congress' Rao Dan Singh.

Abhimanyu, sitting MLA from Narnaund, was trailing by a margin of 9,956 behind JJP's Ram Kumar Gautam.

State BJP chief Barala was trailing by a margin of 10,383 behind Jannayak Janta Party's Devender Singh Babli from Tohana seat. Among other ministers who were behind, included Kavita Jain trailing behind Surender Panwar of the Congress by a margin of 5,761 votes from Sonipat segment while another minister Manish Grover was behind Congress' B B Batra from Rohtak by a margin of 3,061 votes.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis contesting from Nagpur South-West Constituency is leading by a margin of 8398 votes

Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang aka as P S Golay of the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) is leading over his nearest rival Moses Rai of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) by a margin of 8,727 votes in the by-poll to the Poklok Kamrang Assembly constituency in the state. While Tamang has secured 10,585 votes, Rai garnered 1,858 votes, as per the latest trends.

Yadhu Kumar Rai of the Sikkim Republican Party (SRP) is trailing at the third position with 125 votes while 76 none of the above (NOTA) votes have been polled.

The ruling BJP is ahead in six assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh and ally Apna Dal (S) in one, as per the latest trends on Thursday. The Samajwadi Party is ahead in two, while the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party are leading in the two remaining seats.

The BJP is leading in Manikpur, Ghosi, Iglas, Lucknow Cantt, Govindnagar and Balha, while its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) is ahead in Pratapgarh.

The SP is ahead in Rampur and Zairpur, the BSP in Jalalpur and the Congress in Gangoh.

Of the 11 seats of the state where bypolls were held on Monday, eight were held by the BJP and one by its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal). Two other seats were shared by the Samajwadi Party and the BSP.

Jannayak Janata Party workers celebrate in Jind

As per the official trends from the Election Commission - 

The BJP and its ally Shiv Sena are continuing to surge in Maharashtra with leads on 99 and 60 assembly constituencies, respectively. 

Counting of votes is currently underway.

Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi speaks to Senior Congress leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, taken stock of the latest political situation

Vijaykumar Krushnarao Gavit has won the Nandurbar Assembly Seat for the BJP in Maharashtra.

This is the first result from Maharashtra Assembly Elections.

Bharatiya Janata Party trails on 6 seats in Nagpur

BJP's Udayanraje Bhosale trailing by 81,000 votes from Satara

Congress President Sonia Gandhi spoke to former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Haryana Assembly Election Result has so far shown a close contest between the Congress and BJP. Dushyant Chautala's JJP has emerged as the clear winner so far.

Reports said in case of a hung situation, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has authorised Bhupinder Hooda to take all decisions in Haryana. 

Meanwhile, BJP president Amit Shah has called Manohar Lal Khattar to Delhi. 

These are reports and counting for 90 Haryana Assembly Seats is still underway. 

Stay with is for latest on Haryana Assembly Election Result and all developing political story.

Bharatiya Janata Party wins on Dharamsala assembly seat

Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala was trailing by a margin of 2,423 votes over the ruling BJP's Leela Ram.

Surjewala is seeking re-election from Kaithal constituency.

The Congress leader had lost the Jind bypolls, which were held earlier this year. 

Former Indian hockey captain and BJP candidate from Pehowa, Sandeep Singh leading by 1606 votes as per official trends by the Election Commission. 

The ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance on Thursday looked on course to retaining power in Maharashtra as per trends available in 283 of the 288 Assembly seats. As per the trends available so far - 

BJP is leading in 99

Shiv Sena 61

Congress 41

NCP 49

Independents are ahead in 15 seats

Pankaja Munde, BJP candidate from Parli assembly constituency, is trailing.

Wrestler and BJP candidate from Baroda, Yogeshwar Dutt leading by 430 votes as per official EC trends

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis leading by 10,000 votes from Nagpur

Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi was leading over BJP's Sonali Phogat, a Tik Tok star, from his stronghold Adampur, as per early trends available for Haryana Assembly polls. Bishnoi, the younger son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, had attained a comfortable lead of over 10,000 votes over Phogat, contesting her first election.

Bishnoi's elder brother Chander Mohan, also a Congress candidate, had a slender margin of 29 votes over BJP's sitting MLA Gian Chand Gupta from Panchkula constituency, as per trends made available by the Election Commission.

Jannayak Janta Party leader Ram Kumar Gautam leading

BJP's Captain Abhimanyu trailing, on Narnaund Assembly seat

JJP leader Dushyant Chautala leading on Haryana's Uchana Kalan assembly seat

Randeep Surjewala, Congress candidate contesting from Kaithal assembly constituency at a counting centre in Kaithal.

He is leading, after 5th round of counting.

OBC leader and BJP candidate Alpesh Thakor trailing behind Congress' Raghu Desai by 3,000 votes. In Bayad (Arvalli), BJP candidate Dhavalsinh Zala trailing behind Congress' Jasu Patel by over 6,600 votes.

In Amraiwadi seat of Ahmedabad, Congress' Dharmendra Patel leading over BJP's Jagdish Patel by more than 200 votes.

In Tharad (Banaskantha), Kheralu (Mehsana) and Lunawada (Mahisagar) seats, the BJP candidates are leading their rivals. 

Official trends from the Election Commission

Official trends from the Election Commission

Official trends from the Election Commission

BJP leading in 99 constituencies

Shiv Sena leading in 60 constituencies

NCP leading in 48 constituencies 

Indian National Congress in 40

Official trends from the Election Commission

BJP leading in 99 constituencies

Shiv Sena leading in 60 constituencies

NCP leading in 48 constituencies 

Indian National Congress in 40

Aaditya Thackeray establishes a comfortable lead of 11,893 votes over NCP's Suresh Mane in Worli Assembly seat.

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde is leading over his rival and BJP minister Pankaja Munde by 6,870 votes in Parli Assembly seat.

BJD candidate Rita Sahu has established a lead of 23,365 votes over her nearest rival Sanat Gartia of the BJP in the by-poll to Odisha's Bijepur
Assembly constituency. While Sahu has polled 31,286 votes, Gartia has secured 7,921 votes while Congress candidate Dilip Kumar Panda has
garnered 1,115 votes at the end of the fourth round of counting, an election official said.

The by-election to the politically-sensitive seat in Bargarh district was necessitated after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who had won from two seats in the Assembly polls held in April, resigned from Bijepur and retained his home-turf Hinjili in Ganjam district.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar contesting from Karnal assembly seat is leading with 14030 votes

Official trends from Election Commission 

Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar leads by 42,000 votes from Baramati 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis contesting from Nagpur South-West Constituency is leading

Indian National Congress is leading in 3 constituencies

BJP is leading in 2 constituencies

Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi's Kshitij Hitendra Thakur leading on Nalasopara assembly seat

Counting of votes was underway for one Lok Sabha and five Assembly seats in Bihar on Thursday. Lok Janshakti Party's (LJP) Prince Singh is leading in the Samastipur Lok Sabha seat. The five Assembly seats that went to polls on October 21 were Kishenganj, Simri Bakhtiyarpur, Daraundha, Nathnagar and Belhar.

A total of 51 candidates are in the fray, out of which only six are women.

The by-polls are being viewed as a precursor to next year's Assembly election in the state.  

Congress candidate from Solapur Central, Praniti Shinde, the daughter of former Home Minister and Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde, is trailing

Official trends from the Election Commission

BJP leading in 75 constituencies

Shiv Sena leading in 47 constituencies

NCP leading in 43 constituencies

Others - 65

Official trends from the Election Commission

Bharatiya Janata Party - 29 

Indian National Congress - 21

Jannayak Janta Party - 10

Others - 9

Congress candidate Kantilal Bhuria leading by 810 votes over nearest BJP rival Bhanu Bhuria in the Jhabua Assembly seat by-poll, in Madhya Pradesh 

Polling in the Jammu and Kashmir block development council (BDC) began on Thursday morning amid tight security, with the Congress, National Conference and the PDP boycotting the first electoral exercise after the abrogation of the state's special status.

"The polling has started at all the polling stations from 0900 hours this morning. There have been no reports of delay from anywhere," state Chief Electoral Officer Shailender Kumar said. 

Polling will be held from 9 am-1 pm and the results would be announced later in the day.

Jammu district electoral officer Sushma Chauhan said there were no reports untoward incident reported from anywhere in Jammu.

Reena Kashyap of the BJP is leading with 1,543 votes over her nearest rival Gangu Ram Musafir of the Congress after the first round of counting.

After the first round of counting, Vishal Nehriya of the BJP is leading with 1,187 votes over his nearest rival Vijay Inder Karan (1543 votes) of the Congress in Dharamshala.

Punjab Assembly By-Elections:

Indian National Congress leading in 3 constituencies

Shiromani Akali Dal leading in 1 constituency

Senior Congress leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at a counting centre in Rohtak

Ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has taken an initial lead in the bye-elections to Huzurnagar Assembly constituency, where the counting of votes began on Thursday.

S. Saidi Reddy of TRS established an early lead of 2,476 votes in the first round over his nearest rival Padmavathi Reddy of opposition Congress party.

Election Commission officials said there will be a total of 22 rounds of counting. They have arranged 14 tables for the counting process, which is likely to be completed by 1 p.m.

The constituency, with over 2.36 lakh voters, had recorded 84.75 per cent polling in the bye-election held on October 21.

Congress candidate and ex BCCI chief Ranbir Singh Mahendra was trailing behind JJP's Naina Chautala in Haryana's Badhra constituency while former hockey captain Sandeep Singh of the BJP was ahead in Pehowa constituency, as per initial EC trends. Naina Chautala was leading by a margin of 1,190 votes.

Sandeep Singh was leading over Congress' Mandeep Singh Chatha from Pehowa by a margin of 881 votes.       

From Panipat City, Parmod Kumar Vij of the BJP was leading over Congress candidate Sanjay Aggarwal by a margin of 4,422 votes while Mohd Illyas of Congress was ahead from Punhana over Rahish Khan, an Independent, by a margin of 586 votes.

Counting of votes is underway for 90 assembly constituencies in Haryana.

Bharatiya Janata Party's Babita Phogat leading in Dadri assembly constituency

Maharashtra's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena's dream run continued with their candidates leading in over 125 constituencies while the opposition Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) nominees were ahead in around 75 seats, in the early trends of the October 21 Assembly elections vote count here on Thursday.

Among the prominent leaders were Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Nagpur South-West, the BJP's Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil in Shirdi, Nitesh Rane in Kankavali, Mohini Eknath Khadse in Muktainagar, Ashish Shelar in Bandra, Pankaja Munde in Parli.

Ally Shiv Sena's Aditya Thackeray in Worli, Sanjay Raymulkar in Buldana, Yamini Jadhav in Byculla, besides party candidates in at least 30 other seats, were also leading.

From the opposition side, the NCP's Ajit Pawar was leading in Baramati, Suman R. Patil in Tasgaon-Kavthe Mahankal, Hasan Mushrif in Kaga and Jitendra Awhad in Mumbra.

Official trends from the Election Commission

Jannayak Janta Party - 7

Bharatiya Janata Party - 19

Indian National Congress - 16 

Others - 4

The Congress is ahead in Jalalabad and Phagwara seats, while the SAD and the BJP are leading in Dakha and Mukerian respectively in the bypolls to four assembly seats of Punjab, as per early trends. Congress nominee Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal is leading over his nearest rival and BJP nominee Rajesh Bagha by a margin of 761 votes from Phagwara seat, as per initial trends.

From Mukerian seat, BJP nominee Jangi Lal Mahajan is leading over his nearest rival and Congress candidate Indu Bala by 12 votes.

Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Manpreet Singh Ayali is also leading over his nearest rival and Congress nominee Sandeep Sandhu from Dakha assembly seat in Punjab, as per initial trends.

The BJP is leading on one of the two seats of Himachal Pradesh where by-election was held, a state election official said. After first round of counting, Vishal Nehriya of the BJP is leading with 1,187 votes against his nearest rival Vijay Inder Karan of the Congress in Dharamshala.

The trend is being awaited for Pachhad seat.

Counting began on both the assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday where voting took place on Monday, the officials added.

Congress ka bahumat aayega: Senior Congress leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Rohtak

Contesting from Karnal assembly seat, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is leading with 4,588 votes

Devendra Fadnavis is leading by 5,100 votes from Nagpur constituency

Official trends from the Election Commission

BJP leading in 21 constituencies

Shiv Sena leading in 15 constituencies

Congress leading in 5 constituencies

NCP leading in 13 constituencies

Puducherry Assembly By-Elections: Counting of votes is underway.

As per official trends from Election Commission, Indian National Congress is leading in Kamraj Nagar constituency.

Former BJP MLA Anil Gote, the Independent candidate from Maharashtra's Dhule Assembly seat, spent the night outside the EVM strong room in his segment, claiming he was guarding the facility to avoid any misuse of the voting machines ahead of counting on Thursday.

Counting of votes for all 288 Assembly elections and Satara Lok Sabha bypoll began at 8 am on Thursday.

Gote in the morning said he chose to stay awake throughout the night outside the EVM strong rooms in Dhule along with some of his supporters.
 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis trails from Nagpur

Shiv Sena's Aaditya Thackeray establishes a comfortable lead in Worli assembly constituency where he is making his electoral debut. The 29-year-old Thackeray scion is pitted against NCP's Suresh Mane and has established a lead of over 7000 votes as per the early trends.

Former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has established a lead of 6595 votes over his BJP rival Gopichand Padalkar in Baramati.

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde is leading over his rival and BJP minister Pankaja Munde by 1,654 votes.

Official trends from the Election Commission

Bahujan Samaj Party leading in 1 constituency

Samajwadi Party leading in 2 constituencies

Official trends from the Election Commission

Bharatiya Janata Party leading on 1 seat

Indian National Congress leading on 1

Indian Union Muslim League-leading on 1 seat

Official trends from Election Commission

Bharatiya Janata Party leading on 1 seat

Indian National Congress leading on 1 seat

Jannayak Janta Party leading on 1 seat

Official trends from Election Commission

BJP leading in 15 constituencies

Shiv Sena leading in 11 constituencies

Congress leading in 3 constituencies

NCP leading in 9 constituencies

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena candidates were leading in over 30 constituencies, while the opposition Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) nominees in around 12, as early trends of the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly elections became available on Thursday.

Among the prominent leaders were the BJP's Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil in Shirdi, Nitesh Rane in Kankavali, Mohini Eknath Khadse in Muktainagar and Shiv Sena's Aditya Thackeray in Worli.

From the opposition side, the NCP's Ajit Pawar in Baramati, Congress' Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar in Brahmapuri and Balasaheb Thorat in Sangamner were leading as per the initial trends in around 50 of the 288 constituencies.

The BJP on Thursday established a substantial lead as the counting of votes for Assembly elections progressed in Maharashtra and Haryana. In Maharashtra, the BJP was leading at 83 seats and its ally Shiv Sena was ahead at 53 in the 288-member Assembly, according to IANS-CVoter.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was leading at 30 seats and its coalition partner Congress was ahead at 21 seats.

The trends available from 91 constituencies also indicated that Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) was leading at 3 seats, BSP at 1 and others at 3 seats.

Counting of votes in Rajasthan has started on Thursday on two seats, Mandava and Khinvsar, where by-polls were held on October 21. A total of 69.62 per cent voting was reported in Mandava on Monday till 6 p.m., while Khinvsar recorded 62.61 per cent polling. Mandava had 259 voting centres and 266 polling booths were in Khinvsar.

In Mandava, there is a clash between the two women candidates with Congress' Rita Chaudhary being fielded against BJP's Sushila Seegda, while in Khinvsar, it is the BJP alliance partner RLP's Narayan Beniwal fighting against Congress' veteran leader Harendra Mirdha.

The Assembly bypolls on these two seats were necessitated as the respected MLAs of these two seats were elected to the Lok Sabha.

Congress candidate Bhusara Sunil Chandrakant leading in Vikramgad Assembly segment in Maharashtra

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his predecessor Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress are among those who were leading from their respective constituencies, as per the early trends available. Khattar, a first-time MLA, is seeking re-election from Karnal, while Hooda is seeking re-election from his stronghold Garhi Sampla-Kiloi in Rohtak district.

Haryana minister Anil Vij, a five-time legislator from Ambala Cantt, was said to be leading from his constituency in early trends.

Counting of votes for the Haryana assembly election began at 8 am on Thursday, with the BJP looking to retain power and its hopes buoyed by exit polls that indicated an easy victory.

Haryana had on Monday recorded a voter turnout of over 68 per cent, a sharp decline from 76.54 in the 2014 assembly polls.

BJP-Shiv Sena takes lead on 146 seats in Maharashtra, early trends show. 

Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde leading from Khopadi in Maharashtra 

NCP's Rohit Pawar trailing from Karjat Jamkhed in Maharashtra 

As per early trends, Bharatiya Janata Party takes lead in Haryana

Congress on 16 seats in Haryana 

Counting of votes underway in Karnal, Haryana 

As per early trends, BJP+ leading on 110 seats in Maharashtra. 

Congress+ on 44 seats 

Counting of ballots to the four Assembly seats that went to by-polls in the Congress-ruled Punjab began on Thursday amidst heavy security arrangements. A turnout of 61 per cent was registered on October 21. The Jalalabad seat saw the highest poll percentage of 70 per cent, followed by Dhaka (64), Mukerian (57.28) and Phagwara (49.96 per cent).

The main contest is between the Congress and the Akali Dal-BJP alliance. Besides, the AAP, the BSP and the Lok Insaaf Party have also fielded their candidates. The fate of 33 candidates will be decided.

Vote counting for two Assembly seats of Himachal Pradesh began on Thursday, election officials said. Nearly 68 per cent of the 156,624 voters exercised their franchise on Monday for the by-elections to the Dharamsala and Pachhad seats in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled state.

The elections were necessitated as Kishan Kapoor and Suresh Kashyap resigned from their respective seats as they were elected to the Lok Sabha.

In the Dharamsala and Pachhad seats, the polling percentage was 65.39 and 72 per cent, respectively.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was all set for celebrations as it was confident of winning maximum seats in the by-elections to Uttar Pradesh's 11 Assembly constituencies, counting for which was underway on Thursday.

"We are going to win all 11 seats," said Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya. The BJP is contesting 10 seats, having left one (Pratapgarh) for its ally Apna Dal.

Congress' Ramesh leading from Pune Cantt in Maharashtra 

Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar (NCP) leading from Baramati in Maharashtra 

Counting of votes for Chitrakot Assembly by-poll in Chhattisgarh began on Thursday morning amid tight security. Both the ruling Congress and Opposition BJP in the state are eying victory in the Naxal-affected seat, reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates. Counting began at 8 am at Women Polytechnic College, Dharampura, at the Bastar district headquarters of Jagdalpur, a poll official said.

"A three-layer security has been arranged at the counting centre," he said, adding that postal ballots will be counted first.

BJPs' Gyanchand leading from Panchkula in Haryana

BJP's Ram Vilas Sharma leading from Mohindergarh in Haryana 

Congress' Bhupinder Singh Hooda leading from Sampla in Haryana 

Early trends from Haryana - 

BJP leading on 24 seats 

Congress on 5 seats

Others on 3 seats 

Early trends from Maharashtra - 

BJP+ leading on 42 seats

Congress+ on 14 seats

Others on 4

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar leading from Karnal 

Manish Grover of the Bharatiya Janata Party leading from Rohtak in Haryana 

Counting of votes begins, starting with the postal ballots, at Colaba counting centre in Mumbai

BJP leading from Borivali seat in Maharashtra 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis leading from Nagpur seat. 

BJP leading from 13 seats from Haryana - BJP's Ram Vilas Sharma leading from Mohindergarh

Congress leading on 3 seats from the state

Initial trends as per postal ballot in Maharashtra

BJP leading from Akola seat

Aaditya Thackeray leading from Worli 

Counting of votes for by-elections to six Assembly constituencies in Gujarat began on Thursday morning. Over 600 government employees have been deployed for the exercise that began at 8 am in the constituencies spread across six districts, Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer S Murali Krishna said.

An average 53.67 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the byelections held on Monday in Tharad seat of Banaskantha district, Radhanpur in Patan, Kheralu in Mehsana, Bayad in Arvalli, Amraiwadi in Ahmedabad and Lunawada in Mahisagar district.

1,100 postal ballots cancelled in Nagpur constituency seat

Counting of votes begins for Maharashtra and Haryana assembly election results. 

Counting of votes for Maharashtra Assembly Elections begins soon, ladoos ready at BJP state office in Mumbai

Counting of votes to begin shortly. Counting centre in Mumbai's Colaba

Ashok Mane, candidate of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) from Baramati assembly constituency in Pune district, was allegedly thrashed by some party
workers. The workers were angry with Mane as he declared support to NCP candidate Ajit Pawar despite being in the fray himself as the BSP  candidate.

"Some BSP workers met Mane at a hotel in Baramati on Tuesday to discuss the issue. Some other workers stormed in and threw ink on his face and asked him why he supported Pawar," a police official said.

They poured kerosene on him and paraded him on the road, shouting slogans against him and Pawar, the complaint, registered on Wednesday, stated.

Counting of votes for Haryana Assembly polls to begin at 8 am; a counting centre in Jind. 

BJP state office in Mumbai decorated ahead of counting of votes. 

Preparations underway at the counting center for Nagpur South-West constituency.

Get set go! Counting of votes in the high-stakes assembly election result of Haryana and Maharashtra will begin at 8 AM. India TV is getting you LIVE Coverage on Haryana and Maharashtra assembly election results.