A Congress worker hugs Rahul Gandhi at AICC headquarters in Delhi
Defying the predictions of the exit polls, the opposition INDIA Bloc performed way over modest expectations. At 3 pm, the BJP is ahead on 239 seats and the NDA on 293. The INDIA bloc is ahead on 234 seats, and Congress is ahead on 99.
Video showing a Congress worker giving a hug to Rahul Gandhi outside the AICC headquarters in Delhi has surfaced online. The video shared by news agency ANI shows the party worker crossing a barricade and approaching Rahul Gandhi as he gets down from his car.
The worker, wearing a turban with a Congress flag in his hand, hugged Mr Gandhi. The Congress leader shook hands with the party worker and gave him a smile.
Rahul Gandhi, who is headed to a gigantic victory in Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli, currently has the highest winning margin in Uttar Pradesh.
Mr Gandhi is ahead of his nearest rival, Dinesh Pratap Singh of the BJP, by over 3 lakh votes, showed Election Commission data at 3:15 pm.
The Congress is on course to win 100 Lok Sabha seats - after winning just 44 in 2014 and 52 in the 2019 election. In 2009 the party - then heading the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) - won 206 seats.
The BJP appears to have suffered a setback in the heartland state Uttar Pradesh where the INDIA bloc -- Samajwadi Party and the Congress -- is ahead in more than 40 of 80 seats at 3 pm. The BJP is in the mid-thirties. The BJP had swept Uttar Pradesh in 2014 and held off its ground in 2019. This time most exit polls had predicted an edge for the party.