Narendra Modi all set to be prime minister, BJP to get majority on its own

Narendra Modi appears all set to be the next prime minister with BJP likely to get a majority on its own, wresting power from Congress which is on the path of recording its worst ever performance in the Lok Sabha polls. Recording its best ever performance in its 34-year existence, the BJP on its own was leading in 276 seats, three more than the required half-way mark in the 543-member House, while its allies were ahead in 49 seats.

This will be the first time after 30 years that a single party is securing a majority on its own after the massive number of 419 seats Rajiv Gandhi got in 1984 in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination.

Set to take over as prime minister next week, Modi tweeted "India has won, good days are coming".

The BJP under Atal Bihari Vajpayee had scored an individual tally of 182 seats, both in 1998 and 1999.

On the other hand, the ruling Congress was struggling with leads only in 52 seats while its allies NCP (5), IUML (2), Kerala Congress and RSP (one each) were leading in nine seats.

BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was leading in Varanasi by 83963 votes and by over 5.59 lakh votes in Vadodara. 

In Amethi, Rahul Gandhi was leading with 8022 votes and Congress President Sonia Gandhi was leading by over 1.57 lakh votes in Rae Bareli.

The Modi wave threw aside a number of Congress big guns, including 10 ministers like Sushilkumar Shinde, Sachin Pilot, Veerappa Moily, Salman Khurshid, Kapil Sibal, Ajay Maken, MM Pallam Raju and

Sriprakash Jaiswal besides Speaker Meira Kuma, P Chidambaram's son Karti was trailing in Sivaganga.