We are hours into counting and it seems we are all set for a third term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the dream of crossing the 400 mark has been dashed owing to a spirited performance put up by the INDI Alliance.
As the votes continue to be counted, here’s how the heavyweights such as PM Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and many, many more are faring. So, who’s winning and who’s losing?
Catch all live updates from counting HERE
PM Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has won a third time from Varanasi, defeating Congress’ Ajay Rai. The PM won the seat with 6,12,970 votes while Rai got 4,60,457 votes.
While the PM has managed to secure a third term from the temple town, the win is bittersweet as his vote share has dropped by around 9 percentage points.
In 2019, PM Modi had won the seat with 6,74,664 votes and in 2014, he had secured the seat with 5,81,022 votes.
Amit Shah
Home Minister Amit Shah has won from the Gandhinagar seat in Gujarat after facing off against Congress leader Sonal Patel. Shah has secured a win with a margin of seven lakh votes. EC data shows that he bagged 10,10,972 while Patel only won 2,66,256 votes.
Gandhinagar went to the polls on 7 May, during the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. The BJP has enjoyed a more than decade-long stronghold in the Gandhinagar seat.
Rahul Gandhi
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has won from the Rae Bareli seat, trouncing the BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh. In a social media post, the BJP candidate sought “forgiveness from the people” of Rae Bareli and said that the “decision was not in our hands” despite party members working tirelessly to secure a victory in the Congress bastion.
The EC website last showed Gandhi as winning 6,87,649 votes while Singh secured 2,97,619 votes.
Raebareli is Gandhi’s second seat, with Wayanad in Kerala being the other.
In Wayanad too, the Congress leader has won against CPI’s Annie Raja. In 2019, Rahul Gandhi secured 65 per cent of the vote share, winning over seven lakh votes. Gandhi secured an impressive victory, triumphing over P P Suneer of the CPI by an impressive margin of 4.31 lakh votes.
Smriti Irani
This could perhaps be the biggest loss this election. After trouncing Rahul Gandhi in 2019, this time, Smriti Iran has had to concede defeat in the constituency against Congress’ Kishori Lal Sharma. Sharma, a Gandhi loyalist, bagged 5,39,228 votes whereas Irani has only received 3,72,032 votes.
After her loss, she said: “I express my gratitude to all the BJP party workers and supporters, those who have worked in the service of the constituency and the party with utmost dedication and fidelity. Today, I am grateful to PM Narendra Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath that their governments have completed the pending works of 30 years in just five years. I congratulate those who win. I will continue to be in the service of the people of Amethi.”
Akhilesh Yadav
The Samajwadi Party chief, Akhilesh Yadav, has won from the Kannauj seat in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav, who represented Kannauj from 2000 to 2012 before stepping down to become chief minister, will reclaim the seat that has a significant family history. His father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, held the constituency three times.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Kannauj experienced a notable shift when the BJP’s Subrat Pathak won by a narrow margin of 12,000 votes, defeating Dimple Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav’s wife. Dimple Yadav had won the seat unopposed in a by-poll and secured re-election in 2014.
Supriya Sule
In Maharashtra’s Baramati, it’s a Pawar vs Pawar battle. However, the veteran, Supriya Sule has emerged winner in the race featuring her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar. Supriya has won, according to the EC, 2,60,063 votes while Pawar has acquired 232553 votes.
Baramati Lok Sabha seat, the traditional stronghold of the Pawar family, went to polls in the third phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls on 7 May.
Kanimozhi
In the Thoothukkudi constituency of Tamil Nadu, DMK candidate Kanimozhi has won against her closest rival — AIADMK’s Sivasamy Velumani R, after securing 5,40,729 votes.
In the 2019 elections, Kanimozhi had won the seat with 5,63,143 votes.
Thoothukkudi constituency voted in Phase 1 of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Rajnath Singh
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is smiling as he has won from the Lucknow constituency. This marks his third straight win from the seat. In 2019, Singh had secured a massive 6,27,881 votes, accounting for a staggering 57.09 per cent of the total votes cast.
In 2014, the BJP veteran had secured an impressive 5,59,033 votes, accounting for a substantial 54.49 per cent of the total votes cast.
Kangana Ranaut
The polling gods are smiling down on Kangana Ranaut. The actor-turned-politician, who is contesting on a BJP ticket from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh has won.
Ranaut had faced off against Congress’ Vikramaditya Singh, the son of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh. Thirty-four -year-old Singh had contested two Assembly elections in the past but this was his first bid for a parliamentary seat.
Omar Abdullah
National Conference’s Omar Abdullah has conceded defeat to Independent candidate Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, in the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency in North Kashmir.
In a social media post, he said it was “time to accept the inevitable” as the voters have spoken.
As per the latest Election Commission data, Rashid was ahead with 4,60,886 votes, while Abdullah was trailing with 2,58,244 votes.
HD Kumaraswamy
Former chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy has won the high stakes battle in Karnataka’s Mandya against Venkataramane Gowda (also known as Star Chandru) of the Congress.
According to EC data, Kumaraswamy secured 8,51,881 votes whereas Gowda won 5,67,261 votes.
The Congress has won the Mandya Lok Sabha seat 13 times since the first parliamentary elections.
Shashi Tharoor
Congress’ Shashi Tharoor, who is eyeing a fourth consecutive term from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, has won the election. In the contest, the Congress leader’s closest rival is Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Skill Development and a three-time Rajya Sabha MP. As of now, Tharoor has 353679 votes while the BJP’s candidate has won 337920 votes.
After conceding defeat, Chandrasekhar said: “We have come very close and have set a record margin and vote share. It shows that people of Kerala are increasingly supporting the BJP. It is disappointing that I couldn’t win today, but fought a clean campaign. We didn’t use divisiveness like our opposition. Growth of BJP in Kerala is completely expected and will continue,” he said.
Until 2009, the Thiruvananthapuram seat has swung between the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Congress party.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan
In Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha, former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, popularly known as ‘Mamaji,’ has won against Pratap Bhanu Sharma from the Congress.
Charanjit Singh Channi
The former Punjab chief minister, Charanjit Singh Channi has won the Jalandhar constituency in Punjab. While Channi bagged 390053 votes, his closest rival, BJP’s Sushil Kumar Rinku secured 214060 votes.
Dimple Yadav
The Yadav bahu, Dimple, has won from the Mainpuri seat in UP. She received 5,98,526 votes while her closest rival, Jayveer Singh of the BJP, has secured 3,76,887 votes.
Mainpuri is s a politically significant seat, represented by prominent leaders such as Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP). In the previous 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Mulayam Singh Yadav of the SP won the Mainpuri seat by over 94,000 votes, securing 5,92,306 votes. His nearest rival was Prem Singh Shakya of the BJP, who got 4,97,589 votes.
Hema Malini
Hema Malini has won from Mathura with a margin of 16,3452 votes in the Lok Sabha Election results 2024. The actor-turned-politician said, “This is a very exciting moment right now and I am sure that our party will come and we will definitely form the government. I am also getting a very good lead from Mathura. Things are going very well right now.”
Abhishek Banerjee
Abhishek Banerjee from the TMC has won the election from West Bengal’s Diamond Harbour constituency. Data shows he has secured 10,42,793 votes while his closest rival, Abhijit Das of the BJP, only managed 3,35,433 votes.
In the 2019 elections, Abhishek Banerjee won Diamond Harbour by a little over 3.20 lakh votes. This year, he had set a target to increase his winning margin to over four lakh. However, admit Trinamool Congress insiders, a margin surpassing even the past record was not expected by them.
K Annamalai
BJP state president K Annamalai is trailing from the Coimbatore seat in Tamil Nadu. DMK’s candidate Ganapathy P Rajkumar is ahead of the BJP leader.
With inputs from agencies
 "2 jailed candidates win Lok Sabha election: Can they carry out their duties from behind bars?")
 "Yadavs, Gowdas ... big political families make big gains in Lok Sabha polls")
 "'Historical feat in India's history': PM Modi's first reaction on election results")
 "9 biggest surprises of Lok Sabha 2024 results")