Lok Sabha Election Result 2019: Counting of votes underway at over 4,000 counting centres across country

India began counting hundreds of millions of votes in its general election today at 8:00 am, with a coalition led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party already preparing to form the next government.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is expected to surpass the 272 seats needed to command a majority in the lower house of parliament, six of seven exit polls showed on Sunday. 

Their predicted margin of victory is larger than surveys indicated in the run-up to the vote when most polls showed the NDA would be the largest alliance but would fall short of an overall majority. 

Counting of votes began at 08:00 am and trends are expected to be known by noon because of the use of computerised voting machines. Final results in the polls, in which around 900 million Indians were eligible to vote, are due by the evening. 

The voting was held in seven phases with first phase beginning from April 11.

The last phase of voting was held on May 19. Over 67.11 crore voters exercised their right to vote. 

Victory preparation

The NDA held a meeting on Tuesday, at which Modi was garlanded with flowers by members of the alliance, to discuss its policy agenda for its second term in power. It has promised to double farmers' income and boost infrastructure spending over the next five years.

Several opposition leaders attempting to unseat Modi have urged voters to wait for the final results, calling the exit polls "gossip".

"Do not get demoralised by the fake exit polls doing the rounds," Congress president Rahul Gandhi said in a message to party workers posted on social media on Wednesday. 

The opposition alliance has also protested to India's Election Commission over the electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in the count, that they alleged can be tampered with, and requested a delay to counting while votes are tallied with a backup paper audit trail.

The commission rejected the opposition's demands on Wednesday. 

Around 500 masked people carrying guns and machetes attacked a polling team and forcibly took away EVMs in the remote northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, Reuters reported on Wednesday, though elections in the country as a whole are widely considered to be free and fair by international observers. 

Indian stocks posted their biggest gain since September 2013 on Monday after the exit polls and could rally further on Thursday if the trend is confirmed, according to a Reuters poll. 

"Markets will have a big sigh of relief as it favours continuity and familiarity in terms of roll-out of policies," said Ajay Bodke, CEO at financial services firm Prabhudas Lilladher.