BJP's Bengal Heavyweight Dilip Ghosh Loses To Trinamool's Kirti Azad

BJP candidate Dilip Ghosh, the previous West Bengal state president of the saffron party, was defeated in Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency by a margin of 1,37,981 votes, the Election Commission said on Tuesday.

The Congress, though short of its expected seats, is buoyed by what they said was the key takeaway of this election: A people's mandate that was a victory for democracy and defeat for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He polled 9,23,302 votes while his Congress rival received 3,82,373 votes, the Election Commission data showed.

Janata Dal United (JDU) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has become the talk of the town after the opposition INDIA alliance defied exit polls and seem set to win 231 seats, just 31 short of the halfway mark needed to form the government.

The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu is set to achieve a clean sweep in the Lok Sabha polls, winning all 39 seats as of around 4:30 PM, even bettering its 2009 sweep tally.

The BJP, which crossed the majority mark on its own in the last two general elections, appears to be faltering this time and may require a little help from its allies to get to 272 - the majority mark to form a government at the Centre.