India election: BJP makes hefty gains
06:21AM Fri 16 May, 2014
India's main opposition BJP is making hefty gains over the ruling Congress party as hundreds of millions of votes cast during its mammoth nine-phase general election are being counted.
The BJP is leading in 250 of 485 seats for which initial indications are available, while the ruling Congress party is leading in 49 seats. Final results for all 543 seats are expected later on Friday. Voter turnout was a record 66.38%, beating the previous 1984 poll record. About 551 million votes from more than 1.8 million electronic voting machines are being tallied to determine the fortunes of 8,251 candidates. The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says the scene at the BJP headquarters resembles a carnival.