Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, accusing them of intimidating the institutions of India. "We fought this election not just against BJP but also the institutions, the governance structure of the country, the intelligence agencies CBI &EDI, judiciary because all these institutions were captured by Amit Shah & Narendra Modi ji..." Gandhi said at the briefing held after the Lok Sabha election results.

Continuing his attack, Gandhi said,"The main thing that this election has said, the country has clearly and unanimously stated - we do not want Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to be involved in running of this country. We do not like the way they have run this country. We do not appreciate the way they have attacked the Constitution. That is a huge message to Narendra Modi."

The Lok Sabha elections results on Tuesday defied the exit polls, eluding the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance of a ‘400 plus’ majority. According to the Election Commission trends, the BJP had won 20 and leading on another 224 seats as the counting of votes was underway.

The opposition INDIA bloc, which rejected the exit polls and asserted confidence of forming the next government, has put up a strong performance.

Several pollsters had predicted a terrific performance for the NDA in India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh, even exceeding the 2019 tally. However, the INDIA bloc comprising Congress and Samajwadi Party stunned everyone by gaining an edge on 40 seats. The BJP is leading on 36 seats, 26 less than its 2019 tally.

In Maharashtra, the INDIA bloc comprising Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SCP) are leading on 28 out of 48 seats. The Mahayuti alliance comprising BJP, Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar-led NCP on 18 seats.

In West Bengal, the ECI trends showed ruling TMC leading on 29 seat while the BJP ahead on 12. The Congress is leading on 1 seat. In the 2019 elections, the BJP had won 18 of the 42 seats.

In Tamil Nadu, the BJP has not been able to open its account. In Andhra Pradesh, the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP is leading on 16 seats and is poised to become a kingmaker during the next government formation at the Centre.

culled from Hindustan Times