Thrilled at the early reports, the Congress has said it will stake claim to rule India again.
With the trends in counting of votes giving UPA a clear lead, the Congress said President Pratibha Patil would invite the party to form government.
Congress general secretary B K Hariprasad expressed confidence that UPA will emerge as the single largest party and along with its allies it will be able to muster the majority.
Asked whether the UPA could stake claim to form the government, he said, "Of course."
"We expect the President to invite the single largest party with its allies to form the government," he said.
Early trends have started to trickle in as the counting for votes has begun. The Congress-led UPA has taken a clear lead. Meanwhile, the biggest setback comes for Left as it faces the worst performance in 40 years in West Bengal.
In Bihar, JD (U) is heading for a sweep, while in Delhi Congress is leading in six seats. Rashtriya Janta Dal supremo Lalu Yadav is trailing in Saran while he is leading from Patliputra seat.
BJP's star candidate Shatrughan Sinha is leading from Patna Sahib. BJP's Vinod Khanna is leading in Gurdaspur. In Jammu and Kashmir, Separatist Sajad Lone is trailing in Baramulla while national Conference's Farooq Abdullah is leading in Srinagar.
BJP leader Jaswant Singh is leading from Darjeeling while the party's new saffron leader Varun Gandhi is leading Pilibhit. In the controversial Rampur constituency, Congress' Noor Bano is giving a tough fight to Samajwadi Party's Jaya Prada. Bano is leading.
BJP leader Jaswant Singh is leading from Darjeeling while the party's new saffron leader Varun Gandhi is leading Pilibhit. Counting of votes polled in the 15th Lok Sabha elections began today 16.05.2009 at over 4,000 counting halls across the country during which the fate of 8,070 candidates will be known.
Counting began at 0800 hrs in all 28 states and seven union territories. Votes polled in elections to state Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim are also being counted simultaneously.A party or combine needs 272 seats in the 545-member Lok Sabha to form a government.
Counting began at 4,260 halls in 1,080 centres across the country and would be managed by nearly 60,000 personnel. A little over half of the 71.377 crore registered voters cast their ballots through Electronic Voting Machines in the five-phased elections that began on April 16 and ended on May 13.
In all, 8,070 candidates, including from 46 national and state parties, contested in the elections to 543 LS seats.
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