Counting of votes in the Lok Sabha elections began at 8am. According to early trends in the postal ballots, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had secured a lead in Wayanad, the second seat he contested from after Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. These are postal ballots, with the results likely to vary with EVM counts.
At 8.30am, Rahul led by 340 votes over P.P. Suneer of the LDF. Shashi Tharoor, incumbent MP for Thiruvananthapuram, was leading in his seat by a margin of over 700 votes over BJP's Kummanam Rajasekharan. Union minister Alphons Kannanthanam was trailing in Ernakulam constituency.
In the national picture, at 8.30am, the BJP-led NDA was leading in 162 seats, while the Congress-led UPA was leading in 66 seats. In Kerala, the Congress-led UDF was leading in 14 seats and LDF in six.
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP was ahead in 13 seats, while the SP-BSP alliance was leading in 1 seat.
Election Commission officials said the firm trends would emerge only by afternoon given the need to tally VVPAT slips with EVM votes. Final results are likely only by evening.
