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As counting began for high-stakes elections across 823 constituencies in four states and one Union Territory, early trends from postal ballots showed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead in Assam with leads in 25 seats, while the Congress-led alliance was ahead in seven.
In Keralam, a close contest is unfolding between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF), with both sides inching past 50 leads each. In Tamil Nadu, the DMK has taken an early lead over the AIADMK-led alliance, while in West Bengal, the pendulum has been consistently swinging in a close contest between BJP and TMC. These figures reflect initial postal ballot trends, with counting of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) votes scheduled to begin at 8:30 am. Election Commission is yet to declare any official trends. As the counting began, patrolling was being carried out with armoured vehicles in West Bengal's Malda, meanwhile, several strong rooms swiftly opened across Keralam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, before the beginning of counting procedure. A verbal spat broke out between polling agents of both parties, in which TMC alleged of not allowed to take files and pen inside the counting centre, however, the same was allowed to BJP polling agents. "They are not allowing us to take files or pens inside, but the BJP polling agents are allowed to take them inside. Rules should be the same for everyone. We are the people of Mamata Banerjee. There is no bigger identity than this," a TMC polling agent said. On the other hand, the BJP accused the TMC polling agents of not carrying identity cards for entering the polling station. "They are not carrying their ID cards. We are wearing our ID cards. They are creating a ruckus unnecessarily. BJP is winning with a majority in West Bengal and even in Bhabanipur," the BJP polling agent said. Heavy three-layer security was deployed early morning on Monday to prepare for the vote count of the recently concluded Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Dozens of security personnel were deployed at the gate of the college, with barricades in place as officials checked every vehicle coming in. Loyola College is one of the counting centres that houses the EVMs for counting nearly 4.8 crore large votes polled. Queen Mary's College and Anna University are also some of the other counting centres set up for today. (ANI)
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