was leading in 19 seats as counting of votes progressed, according to Election Commission trends.

In Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was leading by over 55,000 votes against his SP rival.

In the high-profile Amethi seat, BJP’s Smriti Irani established an early lead of 1,931 votes against sitting MP and Congress president Rahul Gandhi while UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was leading in neighbouring Rae Bareli by over 17,000 votes.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was leading against his nearest SP rival Poonam Sinha and in Lucknow.

The Bahujan Samaj Party was leading in 11 and the Samajwadi Party in eight while the Congress was ahead in one and the Apna Dal (Soneylal) in one.

11:30 am IST

DMK’s Stalin emerges from Karunanidhi’s shadow with emphatic lead

For a long time MK Stalin, who even atthe age of 64 was the youth president of the DMK, would be privately sneered at by rivals – internal and external – for failing to emerge from the shadows of his larger than life father M Karunanidhi.

Even in 2016, while the election was led by Stalin as Karunanidhi was ailing, the unexpected defeat in the assembly polls to the AIADMK then led by J Jayalalithaa meant that the blame was laid at his feet.

Early trends indicated that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led alliance, which includes the Congress, was leading in 34 of the 38 Lok Sabha seats in the southern state. This emphatic win of the alliance led by Stalin, who is fondly called Thalapathi (commander in Tamil), has stamped his hold on the party.

11:26 am IST

BJP leading