Thiruvananthapuram (Keralam)

As the United Democratic Front crossed the halfway mark in early counting trends in Kerala, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor welcomed the development, calling it a sign of voters seeking change after a decade.

Speaking to ANI, Tharoor said the party represents a shift in political direction and stressed the need for a "new kind of politics" following what he described as 10 years of poor governance.

On the question of leadership in Keralam, Tharoor said the party would not rush into a decision. He added that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge would appoint a representative to consult newly elected MLAs, after which the party's high command would take a final call in line with its established process.

"Look, we are a party of change. We want that after 10 years of such bad politics, it is very important to bring change and, in my view, to bring in a new kind of politics. We do not want to talk about this issue right now. Kharge ji, who is the Congress president, will send someone to speak with the winning MLAs. After that, they will take their opinion, and then the high command will decide. This is our Congress policy," Tharoor said.

He noted that early trends appeared favourable for the UDF, with even some prominent leaders from the Left Democratic Front trailing. However, he cautioned that the situation was still evolving, as only a few rounds of counting had been completed.

"The encouraging thing is that within an hour and a quarter, there seems to be a very clear trend in our favour, and even some reasonably popular politicians from the LDF are trailing. I agree it is entirely premature because only a couple of rounds have been counted," Tharoor told reporters.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) beached the halfway mark as per official Election Commission trends with leads in 82 seats. The Congress led in 50 seats, with its ally, the Muslim League, leading in 17 seats. The LDF was leading in 51 seats around 10 am.

When asked about factors behind LDF's poor performance, State Congress president and MLA from Peravoor Sunny Joseph said, "Anti-people policies" had led to Pinarayi Vijayan's rout.

Congress MP Jebi Mather said, "We have crossed 89, just 11 seats to 100. It is beyond what the exit polls had projected. People of Kerala have gifted a decisive victory to Congress-led UDF. It is a moment of excitement, exuberance, and pride. We are thakful and grateful to the people of Kerala. This is also a reflection of how the CPI(M)-led LDF was a miserable failure and the anti-incumbency factor played very well..."

Counting is underway across 823 constituencies in key regions including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Keralam, Assam, and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

The process begins with postal ballots, followed by counting of Electronic Voting Machines from 8:30 am, with round-wise results being updated in real time on the ECINET platform and the Election Commission's official portal.

Security has been tightened across all counting centres ahead of the process.

As the counting began, patrolling was being carried out with armoured vehicles in West Bengal's Malda. Meanwhile, several strong rooms swiftly opened across Keralam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, before the beginning of the counting procedure.

Exit polls for West Bengal have projected a tight contest between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress (TMC). While some projections, including Chanakya Strategies and Matrize, have given an edge to the BJP, others suggest a closer fight with TMC retaining a significant share of seats. Smaller parties are also expected to play a limited role in the outcome.

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West Bengal recorded the highest-ever voter turnout since independence with an impressive 91.66% polling in Phase-II of the Assembly elections. In phase-I, the poll participation was 93.19%, taking the combined poll percentage to 92.47%.