Vote counting LIVE: Vijay shocks Dravidian giants; BJP crosses 200 in Bengal; UDF wave in Kerala
The 2026 election story: The fall of bastions, the rise of a superstar, and a saffron breakthrough in the East.
Extending its saffron spread in eastern India, the BJP is set for a decisive win over the TMC in long elusive West Bengal and headed for another term in Assam while actor-politician Vijay’s TVK made a stunning debut in Tamil Nadu as the largest single party in terms of seats won or led. As votes were counted for Assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, Election Commission trends showed a wipeout of the Left and a solitary win for the Congress that has been battling diminishing electoral returns.
Also Read: Understanding the Vijay phenomenon in Tamil Nadu politics
Also Read: What explains Bengal’s saffron shift? 6 reasons why Mamata was decimated
Also Read: UDF landslide in Kerala: The multiple factors that toppled Left
That silver lining for the opposition party came from Kerala where the Congress-led UDF won or was leading in 101 of the 140 Assembly seats while the CPM-led ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) was ahead in just under 40 constituencies.
The cynosure of Election 2026, however, was West Bengal, the eastern state where the Trinamool Congress was eyeing a fourth straight term in its only bastion. As counting progressed, power for the TMC seemed to be pulling away, further and further. The state’s political landscape was changing with the BJP, its campaign spearheaded by Amit Shah with Modi as its lodestar, pushing ahead in border, tribal and industrial regions, while the TMC held ground in parts of Kolkata and select rural strongholds.
According to the Election Commission, the BJP won or was ahead in 195 of the 294 seats, well ahead of the magic number of 147, power in the state finally within its grasp. The Trinamool Congress tally was 90.
In Assam, where the election was a hot-headed affair too, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma led the BJP to another straight victory with leads in 81 of the 126 seats, leaving the Congress far behind at 19. Congress state unit president Gaurav Gogoi faced his first electoral defeat in Jorhat.
West Bengal was one headline of Election 2026, the other was superstar Vijay, who defied the odds and the taint of a stampede during his rally in September 2025 in which 41 people were killed. That was clearly in the past as his party broke bipolar Dravidian politics and was poised to become the largest single party in Tamil Nadu with wins and leads in 109 of the state’s 234 seats. The ruling DMK that had started the morning at number three position was at 61 and the AIADMK at 44.
Chief Minister M K Stalin lost in Kolathur. According to Election Commission data, 15 other ministers were also lagging behind.
The choice, it appeared, was clear. Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar could well join the pantheon of MGR and Jayalalithaa as the stars who made it big in the political firmament.
In Kerala, Congress broke Left's grip, winning over 100 seats. In Puducherry, the All India NR Congress had won or was ahead in 11 of the 30 seats. The DMK stood at five and the BJP at four. The TVK made its presence felt with three.
In Assam, the BJP-led NDA is set to create history surging towards a landslide victory. Under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma, the party is on track to secure a record third consecutive term, with leads comfortably crossing the majority mark.
As the counting is underway, follow our live updates below:
Live Updates
- 4 May 2026 1:53 PM IST
West Bengal polls: Minister Aroop Biswas trails in Tollyganj
West Bengal minister Aroop Biswas was trailing by a slender margin in the Tollyganj seat in south Kolkata, as counting of votes was underway for the assembly elections.
After five rounds of counting, Biswas was trailing by 624 votes against BJP's Papia Adhikari, a Bengali filmstar of yesteryears. A total of 16 rounds of counting will be held in the seat.
Biswas stepped down as the Sports Minister of the state in the wake of the controversy over the "mismanagement" of the Lionel Messi event at the Salt Lake stadium last December.
Alleged mismanagement and security lapses during the high-profile event led angry spectators to go on a rampage at the stadium.
Biswas, however, remained a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the Power Department.
- 4 May 2026 1:52 PM IST
TN polls: TNCC chief Selvaperunthagai, Cong candidates trail
TNCC chief K Selvaperunthagai trailed behind Vijay-led TVK candidate Thennarasu K in Sriperumbudur (SC) assembly constituency, who established a clear lead since the votes were taken up for counting.
At the end of the ninth round of counting, Thennarasu secured 38,394 votes and thus established a clear lead of 14,086 votes over his nearest rival, Selvaperunthagai.
Like their party chief, the Congress candidates were also way behind the TVK in other constituencies.
In Killiyoor, Congress floor leader in the Assembly S Rajesh Kumar is behind TVK's Sabin S by a slender margin of 1,795 votes. Sabin polled 27,623 at the end of the eighth round.
The Congress is contesting 27 seats in alliance with the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance. - 4 May 2026 1:46 PM IST
Gaurav Gogoi trails BJP’s Goswami in Jorhat
Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi was trailing in the Jorhat Assembly constituency in Assam, with Election Commission data showing BJP candidate Hitendranath Goswami holding a sizeable lead.
After 12 rounds of counting, Gogoi had secured 39,494 votes, while Goswami had polled 59,113 votes, giving the sitting BJP legislator an advantage of 19,619 votes. Two rounds of counting were still pending.
Gogoi, who currently represents Jorhat in the Lok Sabha, is contesting an Assembly election for the first time. Goswami, a five-term MLA, has represented the constituency three times as an AGP leader and twice as a BJP legislator, and is now seeking a third straight term.
The Congress leader, who serves as Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, had won the Jorhat parliamentary seat in 2024 by defeating BJP candidate Topon Kumar Gogoi by 1,44,393 votes.
Polling for all 126 Assembly constituencies in Assam was conducted in a single phase on April 9.
- 4 May 2026 1:45 PM IST
Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury trails in Baharampur
Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury trailed against BJP's Subrata Maitra by 5,266 votes in the crucial Baharampur Assembly seat in Murshidabad district after five rounds of counting were completed, Election Commission data said.
While Maitra, the sitting MLA from the seat, bagged 31,365 votes, Chowdhury has managed 26,099 votes so far. Trinamool's Naru Gopal Mukherjee, who finished second in the 2021 edition of state polls, was currently placed at the third position with 13,295 votes.
In all, 15 rounds of counting will take place in the Baharampur seat before the results are declared.
Chowdhury's political standing was tested in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where he suffered a setback, losing his long-held seat to TMC candidate Yusuf Pathan by a significant margin, prompting his resignation as state Congress chief.
Despite this, he has sought to reassert his relevance, eyeing a comeback in state politics in 2026 after nearly three decades and chose to contest from Baharampur amid a three-cornered fight. - 4 May 2026 1:43 PM IST
IUML credits UDF's teamwork for Assembly polls victory in Kerala
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which is putting up a strong performance in the Kerala Assembly elections, credited the UDF’s teamwork for the alliance’s resounding showing. The IUML is leading in 23 of the 27 seats it contested in the Assembly polls.
IUML state president Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said the UDF was on course to win around 100 seats. "This is the result of the UDF’s teamwork reflected in the election. The rest of the matters will be decided after discussions within the UDF," he said.
He said the IUML had kept its word as the UDF is winning in all the seats in Malappuram district. The party has also improved its performance in other districts, he added.
Senior IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty, who contested from Malappuram constituency, also said the UDF would win around 100 seats.
"The Congress, which leads the UDF, will initiate the discussions. Later, there will be talks with all ally parties. That is the procedure followed, and further steps will be taken accordingly," Kunhalikutty said.
He said there would be no issues during the discussions, adding that expressing opinions was normal in democratic parties.
Kunhalikutty described the IUML’s performance as historic, saying the party was continuing its electoral growth since its formation.
He also termed the victory of Congress leader V S Joy in Thavanur as a remarkable achievement and an example of secular values.
Thavanur is a Muslim-majority constituency where LDF candidate K T Jaleel had been winning since 2011.
- 4 May 2026 1:42 PM IST
Mamata leads by over 15,000 votes in Bhabanipur
Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal and leader of the All India Trinamool Congress, held a significant lead over BJP challenger Suvendu Adhikari in the closely watched Bhabanipur Assembly constituency in south Kolkata as counting continued on Monday.
Election Commission figures at the end of the eighth round showed Banerjee with 35,522 votes, while Adhikari had secured 20,028 votes, putting her ahead by 15,494 votes.
Earlier in the count, Banerjee had stretched her lead to 17,371 votes after the seventh round, polling 32,822 votes against Adhikari’s 15,451, before the gap narrowed slightly in the next round.
The contest saw sharp shifts in the opening rounds. Banerjee started with a lead of 1,996 votes in the first round, securing 3,666 votes against Adhikari’s 1,670. Adhikari then moved ahead by 1,558 votes in the second round before Banerjee regained the lead in the third. By the end of the fourth round, she had expanded her advantage to 8,482 votes.
Bhabanipur will undergo 20 rounds of counting before the final result is declared. Counting across 293 Assembly constituencies in the state continued under tight security.
- 4 May 2026 1:33 PM IST
Congress leads in both Karnataka bypoll seats as counting continues
The ruling Congress party was leading in both Bagalkot and Davanagere South as counting continued in the Karnataka Assembly by-elections on Monday. Voting for the two constituencies was held on April 9.
The bypolls were necessitated by the deaths of senior Congress legislators H. Y. Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
According to Election Commission data, Congress candidate Umesh Meti was leading BJP nominee Veerabhadrayya Charantimath by 17,205 votes in Bagalkot.
In Davanagere South, Congress candidate Samarth Mallikarjun, who had trailed earlier in the day, moved ahead of BJP’s Srinivasa T. Dasakariyappa by 7,916 votes.
A total of nine candidates were in the fray in Bagalkot, while 25 candidates were contesting from Davanagere South.
- 4 May 2026 1:23 PM IST
TMC's four-time MLA Sujit Bose trailing in Bidhannagar
The TMC's four-time MLA and outgoing West Bengal Minister Sujit Bose is trailing the BJP's Sharadwat Mukherjee by a margin of 10,750 votes in the Bidhannagar constituency.
According to the Election Commission website, Bose polled 10,247 votes, while Mukherjee got 20,997 votes after the third round of counting.
Bose had recently appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the municipal jobs scam case.
Mukherjee is a debutant in electoral politics.
- 4 May 2026 1:22 PM IST
Mamata consolidates lead by 17,371 votes over BJP's Suvendu in Bhabanipur
West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee consolidated her lead over BJP challenger Suvendu Adhikari by 17,371 votes in the high-profile Bhabanipur constituency in south Kolkata after early jitters.
According to Election Commission data, Banerjee secured 32,822 votes against Adhikari's 15,451 at the end of the seventh round of counting, building a commanding advantage in what began as a see-saw battle.
The contest witnessed sharp swings in the initial rounds.
- 4 May 2026 1:20 PM IST
Maharashtra bypolls: Sunetra Pawar maintains huge lead in Baramati, BJP ahead in Rahuri
Riding a sympathy wave, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP head Sunetra Pawar was far ahead of her rivals and poised for a huge victory in the Baramati assembly bypoll as vote counting progressed on Monday.
In the Rahuri assembly seat byelection, BJP's Akshay Kardile was ahead of his rivals, as per trends available so far on the Election Commission's website.
Polling for the two seats was held on April 23.
Sunetra Pawar secured 70,642 votes by the end of the eighth round of counting on Monday, while 21 of the other 22 little-known candidates have not been able to cross the 200-vote mark so far.
In a post on X, she appealed to NCP workers and her supporters on Monday not to take out victory processions or celebrate with 'gulal' once the result is declared.
She dedicated the trust placed in her by voters to the memory of her late husband, Ajit Pawar, and urged people to exercise restraint and uphold conduct that reflects his ideals.
