AB KI BAAR, REALITY CHECK

■ BJP retains all 29 seats in MP, all seven in Delhi, all four in HP and all five in Uttarakhand; But "do ladkay" spoil its dream run in UP ■ In West Bengal, Mamata did not allow the BJP to make any inroads ■ Wins Karnataka by diminished numbers

- GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR

BJP falls way short of majority mark, PM Modi calls on Chandrababu Naidu; both he and Nitish Kumar hold the lifeline to government formation

Contrary to most exit poll predictions, the BJP on Tuesday fell way short of the majority mark of 272 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, ending with around 240. While it appeared on course to form the next government with the support of its National Democratic Alliance allies, the bid by the INDIA bloc leaders to poach, has put a spoke in the wheel of the next government.

However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dispelled all doubts in the matter when he thanked the people for the confidence they had reposed in the NDA as it heads towards forming the third successive government at the Centre. Modi was one of the prominent winners. He won his election from Varanasi, albeit with a reduced margin. Other important winner included Home Minister Amit Shah from Gandhinagar, Union minister Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad.

The prominent losers included Union ministers Smriti Irani from Amethi and Rajeev Chandrasekhar from Thiruvananthapuram.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah lost from Baramulla to an Independent candidate who is lodged in Tihar Jail; PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti lost to NC's Mian Altaf in Anantnag-Rajouri.

As soon as it became clear that the BJP was not going to form the next government on its own, PM Modi called Telugu Desam Party leader Chandrababu Naidu to discuss the situation. Naidu's TDP and Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party had joined the alliance a little before the Lok Sabha elections. The TDP appeared set to win over 20 of the 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh which could prove crucial in the next government formation. Later in the day, Shah also spoke to Naidu who then tweeted his support to the NDA.