The counting of votes was underway in India on Thursday for the just-concluded general elections, and early trends showed the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading the polls.

The final elections results were expected to be announced by late in the night.

Live TV news showed the NDA was leading in around 340 parliamentary constituencies out of the counting-trends available so far in 531 constituencies.

A total of 542 parliamentary constituencies went to polls after the election was cancelled in a constituency in southern state of Tamil Nadu.

On the other hand, the opposition alliance of political parties led by the Indian National Congress (INC) was leading in only 92 constituencies, while other parties, mainly state-level smaller parties, were leading in the rest 100 constituencies.

Meanwhile, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the BJP was leading in 277 constituencies, while the INC in 52 constituencies, out of the total 511 trends available so far. Other smaller political parties were leading in the rest constituencies.

For government formation a single political party, or an alliance of political parties, require 272 lawmakers.