Counting in all 542 constituencies, barring one seat of Vellore district in Tamil Nadu, began at 8 AM today (May 23, 2019). The election in Vellore was cancelled after a huge amount of illegal cash was seized which meant for distributing among voters.

Counting for the election is expected to go till midnight or a little longer than that. However, with the rising sun tomorrow morning, India will have a new government or the same one elected for the second time.

And until the counting of the world’s largest ballot is concluded and a Prime Minister candidate is announced, here is a list of a few constituencies that were most talked about during the election campaigning.

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

For several reasons, Varanasi was one of the most-talked-about constituency, where PM Narendra Modi is the incumbent MP. Modi won Varanasi seat with a margin of 3.37 lakh votes in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.

Candidates from Varanasi Constituency include the current PM Narendra Modi; Ajay Rai of Congress, who won only 7.34 per cent of votes in the last Lok Sabha elections; Shalini Yadav of Samajwadi Party, among 24 other candidates in the fray. Rai was given the ticket after the Congress decided to not field Priyanka Gandhi from the seat while the SP had to field Yadav after the Election Commission rejected the nomination of suspended BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav. Yadav was suspended for failing to submit a certificate that ‘he was not sacked for either corruption or disloyalty’.

Trend as of 6 PM: According to Election Commission of India, Narendra Modi of the BJP is leading with 6,69,602 votes; Shalini Yadav of the Samajwadi Party is at the second position with 1,93,848 votes; Ajay Rai of Congress is at third position with 1,51,800 votes.

Amethi, Uttar Pradesh

Amethi, the Congress bastion is the seat where the Congress has lost only twice since the first parliamentary election was held in 1967. First when Congress candidate Sanjay Gandhi lost to Janta Party candidate Ravindra Pratap Singh in 1977 and later in 1998 when the Congress candidate Satish Sharma lost to Dr Sanjay Singh of the BJP.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi is the incumbent MP from Amethi. Gandhi has contested and won the Amethi seat for the past two times. However, there was a decrease of about 25 of the total votes polled for Gandhi in the 2014 elections.

Trend as of 6 PM: According to Election Commission of India, Smriti Irani of the BJP is leading with 3,11,992 votes; Rahul Gandhi of the Congress has lost with just 2,73,543 votes.

Gandhinagar, Gujarat

Gandhinagar seat was the talk of the town because BJP president Amit Shah is contesting his first Lok Sabha election from the seat. Gandhinagar is considered to be a BJP stronghold and some of the prominent leaders including former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy PM L.K. Advani have contested and won in the past. Advani has registered a win for six times in the past, including the 2014 Lok Sabha Election.

Trend as of 6 PM: According to Election Commission of India, Amit Shah of the BJP is leading with 8,89,925 votes; Dr C. J. Chavda of the Congress is at the second position with 3,34,082 votes.

Patna Shahib, Bihar

This constituency drew limelight when Shatrughan Sinha, the BJP incumbent candidate form Patna Shahib, joined the Congress after being denied ticket by his own party. BJP has fielded Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from the seat.

Trend as of 6 PM: According to Election Commission of India, Ravi Shankar Prashad of the BJP is leading with 5,27,091 votes; Shatrughan Sinha of the Congress is at the second position with 2,84,949 votes.

Delhi East, NCT Delhi

The Delhi East seat became the most talked about when the BJP decided to field Cricketer Gautam Gambhir against the Aam Aadmi Party Candidate Atishi Marlena, who is credited for transforming primary education in Delhi.

Further, it caught the media attention after fake pamphlets mentioning disparaging information against the AAP candidate were distributed in the constituency. Pointing finger at Gambhir, Atishi alleged that the BJP is behind printing and distribution of those pamphlets.

The Congress has fielded former President of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee Arvinder Singh Lovely from the seat.

Trend as of 6 PM: According to Election Commission of India, Gautam Gambhir of the BJP is leading with 6,90,454 votes; Arvinder Singh Lovely of the Congress is at the second position with 3,02,554 votes; Atishi Marlena of the Aam Admi Party is at third position with 2,17,207 votes.

Begusarai, Bihar

After Kanhaiya Kumar, a JNU scholar decided to contest from Begusarai, this seat became one of the most-talked-about constituencies during the election. Kumar, who was arrested in 2016 on sedition charge and later released due to lack of evidence, has been critical of the BJP government and its stance towards minorities in the country. This time the BJP, replacing incumbent MP Dr Bhola Singh, has fielded Giriraj Singh from Begusarai seat.

Trend as of 6 PM: According to Election Commission of India, Giriraj Singh of the BJP is leading with 6,87,577 votes; Kanhaiya Kumar of the Communist Party of India is at the second position with 2,67,917 votes; Mo. Tanweer Hassan of the Rashtriya Janata Dal is at third position with 1,96,800 votes.

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal constituency, which is a BJP stronghold, garnered controversy after the BJP decided to field terror accused Pragya Singh Thakur from the seat. Here, the Congress which has fielded former CM Digvijay Singh from the constituency is relying on his popularity in the region whereas Thakur is riding on Modi’s plank.

Trend as of 6 PM: According to Election Commission of India, Pragya Singh Thakur of the BJP is leading with 8,13,695 votes; Digvijay Singh of the Congress is at the second position with 4,76,202 votes.

Mumbai South, Maharashtra

The Congress has fielded incumbent MP Deora Milind Murli From Mumbai South constituency, against Arvind Sawant of Shiv Sena. As per the earlier speculation, Deora seemed to have an edge over Shiv Sena candidate, as Mukesh Ambai, chairman of Reliance Industries, was seen endorsing Deora in one of his promotional videos.

Current Trend: 

Trend as of 6 PM: According to Election Commission of India, Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena is leading with 4,20,668 votes; Deora Milind Murli of the Congress is at the second position with 3,19,848 votes.

North East Delhi, NCT Delhi

In North East Delhi parliamentary seat there is a direct fight between the incumbent MP and BJP Delhi president Manoj Tiwari and former CM and Congress Delhi president Sheila Dixit. Dixit has served as CM of Delhi for 15 consecutive years from 1998 to 2013. The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Dilip Panday from the seat. 

Trend as of 6 PM: According to Election Commission of India, Manoj Tiwari of the BJP is leading with 4,18,966 votes; Sheila Dixit of the Congress is at the second position with 4,18,966 votes; Dilip Pandey of the Aam Aadmi Party is at the third position with 1,89,878 votes.

Bengaluru South, Karnataka

Bengaluru South constituency, another BJP bastion, attracted attention after the BJP denied ticket to the widow of five-time MP Ananth Kumar, who died in 2018, and fielded 28-year-old Tejasvi Surya from the seat. Surya, the party’s youngest candidate, contested against Congress veteran BK Hariprasad. Surya is a party spokesperson and state general secretary for the Karnataka BJP’s youth wing. 

Trend as of 6 PM: According to Election Commission of India, Tejasvi Surya of the BJP is leading with 7,36,605 votes; BK Hariprasad of the Congress is at the second position with 4,07,372 votes.

Anantnag, Jammu & Kashmir

This constituency in Jammu and Kashmir is significant to look out for as Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti is contesting from the seat. Mufti served as the CM of the state from April to June 2018. However, she resigned in June 2018, after BJP withdrew support from the coalition government. Following the withdrawal of support by the BJP government, President’s rule was imposed in the state.

Trend as of 6 PM: According to the Election Commission of India, Hasnain Masoodi is leading with 40,032 votes; Ghulam Ahmad Mir of the Congress is at the second position with 32,879 votes; Mehbooba Mufti of Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party is at the third position with 30,068.

Also Read: How Votes Are Counted In Indian Elections?