Congress President Sonia Gandhi will take the final decision on the party's participation in the new government in West Bengal after discussing with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

"The issue will also be discussed at the CWC meeting today and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee may make an announcement," WBPCC vice-president Debabrata Basu said in Kolkata.

A quick recap of what happened in:

Bengal: Breaking the Red citadel, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress ended the 34-year hegemony of the Left Front in West Bengal

Tamil Nadu: Jayalalithaa's AIADMK scored a landslide victory to oust DMK from power.

Assam: Congress led by Tarun Gogoi scored a spectacular hat-trick in Assam bagging a near two-third majority to retain power.

Kerala:UPA-led UDF managed to wrest power from the Left Democratic Front by a wafer-thin majority, but lost Puducherry to its rebel.

Looks like the Kumbh Mela outside Mamata Banerjee's Harish Chatterjee Street residence in Kolkata.

Unlike Amma, Mamata (at least for now) insists that the Trinamool's rule would be about governance, about badal (change) not badla (revenge).Like.

No comeback from the CPI-M's Biman Bose who prophetically attempted to say, "Tomorrow, the media would have to lick the spit that they have hurled at us.' He was referring to the exit polls that predicted a Left rout. "Those who have conducted exit polls after receiving contract money will realise how foolish they were' all are fools' exit polls are bogus,' he said.

Today, after swallowing his pride, Bose said, "The results are unexpected. The Left Front humbly accepted the verdict of the people and promised to play the role of a responsible and constructive opposition in the assembly."

Karunanidhi's first sentence post electoral loss: People of Tamil Nadu have given me a proper rest.

The former CM (he resigned this afternoon)can't be blamed; his thoughts are with his darling daughter, whose bail plea will be heard tomorrow. Buzz is that Kani will be heading Raja's way.

In pictures: Chennai cheers for AIADMK as DMK sulks

Left's first statementon Mamata Banerjee:Will support Mamata in all her positive initiatives. But this is a negative vote; we were isolated from the people.

Only in Tamil Nadu:

Overjoyed by the astounding performance of the AIADMK which is set to win over 190 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, an ardent fan of Jayalalithaa today cut off her tongue to fulfill a religious vow at a temple. She was rushed to hospital where doctors said they were confident of suturing it back.

Pranab in a telling statement: No political party becomes irrelevant just because it loses an election or as a result of a single election. In that case, the BJP would have become irrelevant.

The union finance minsiter says, it would have been silly to write off the BJP, which is inOpposition, just because it got only two seats in 1984 Lok Sabha elections. "In subsequent elections they increased that to 89, and formed a national government in the late 1990s."

He also said no decision has been taken on seeking share in power in the state.

Former West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee loses his Jadavpur seat by 20,000 votes to Trinamool Congress candidate, Manish Gupta, a former chief secretary.

Jaya: First priority is to restore law and order. Good governance is my focus (Again, a leaf out of Mamata'sspeech).

Says, "The havoc that has been wrought is beyond description...it's an onerous talk,"comparing the state to a house that had been knocked down and needed to be rebuilt.

"But we take it up as a challenge."

The seat count so far is DMK: 35, AIADMK: 199.

Jaya: "There is debris (presumably referring to the DMK's legacy) strewn around, we have to now restore the state to what it used to be.

The verdict is the defeat of money power in Tamil Nadu.

People said TN was beyond redemption,but we changed it when we came to power.

TN has been destroyed in the last five years. The challenge of restoringTN is a challenge, magnified 10,000 times."

Tamil Nadu's next chief minister addresses the media. Says its a victory for democracy, its avictoryof the people. (Taken notes from Mamata's speech hours earlier?)

People were disgusted by the DMK government andshowed theiranger. I could sense that thepeople were just waiting for a chance to throw out the DMK and bring in the AIADMK.

Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, who has already resigned, attributed the UDF's victory to "polarisation of communal forces" and said the Left Front would not try to form a government by exploiting the slender UDF victory margin.

"We accept the people's verdict. We will sit in the Opposition and continue to fight corruption," the 87-year-old veteran Marxist leader after the Congress-led UDF came to power by a wafer-thin majority.

On the Left Front's defeat in West Bengal, he said the rivals' propaganda that CPI-M had deviated from its core commitments and ideological positions seemed to have clicked with the voters.

Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has established an unassailable lead of more than 25,000 votes over his rival in Thiruvarur while AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa was ahead by over 11,000 votes in Srirangam.

Karunanidhi was leading by 25,243 votes over his AIADMK rival M Rajendaran in Tiruvarur Assembly constituency.

Jayalalithaa, whose party is set to sweep the Assembly polls, was ahead by 11,715 votes over her immediate DMK rival N Anand in Srirangam.

However, Karunanidhi's son Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin was trailing his AIADMK rival S Doraisamy by over 150 votes at the end of eighth round of counting in Kolathur.

Remember Kerala's Gowri Amma, in the fray in the polls?

If you don't, 92-year-old Gowri, once a firebrand leader, had to sweat it out with rivals half their age in the April 13 Assembly polls. Gowri, a former firebrand Communist leader and leader of JSS (Janadhipathiya Samrakshana Samithi), a UDF partner, was defeated by LDF's P Thilothaman, in his forties.

She has contested elections 16 times so far and lost only thrice-- the first in 1948 in her electoral debut, then in 1977 and in 2006.

Gowri was revenue minister in the first elected Communist government headed by E M S Namboodiripad in 1957 and had piloted the first Land Reforms Bill.

A slight change of circumstances for Muthuvel Karunanidhi, but this story in the Caravan magazine was obviously published before the DMK's ignominious defeat.

Read

Avisibly happy J Jayalalithaa appeared on the balcony of her house to be greeted by loud cheers from party supporters who managed to break police barricades to get a glimpse of her. Shouts of Puratchi Thalaivi (Revolutionary leader) and Amma (mother) ring out.

Have never heard such a soft-spoken Mamata Banerjee or seen her smile as much. It's an absolute treat hearing her. She insists she will not change now that she's heading to be CM.

The UPA-led UDF has secured asimple majority in Kerala, outing the CPI-M led LDF.

Outgoing Kerala CM VS Achuthanandan was seeking re-election for the third time in Malampuzha segment, and has won the seat. He willsubmit his resignation tomorrow.

The battle to gain power in the highly polarised state, where the pendulum swings between Communist Party of India-Marxist led Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front headed by Congress every five years, was keenly fought between the two fronts.

In all, 971 candidates, including Independents, were in the fray.

UDF's chief ministerial probable Oommen Chandy, who also won for the the 10th time in a row from Puthuppally in Kottayam, will most likely be the new CM.

As of now, these are the figures: LDF: 67, UDF: 68, 5 seats yet to come in

M Karunanidhi resigns as Tamil Nadu chief minister.

See our 14:07 update for the context.

And more congratulatory messages (if you can call it that) for Mamata Banerjee.

CPI(M)'s star campaigner and West Bengal Housing minister Gautam Deb today conceded that Mamata Banerjee's fight for land and farmers had been endorsed by the people.

"The blackmoney does not matter. People wanted a change," he said. "I wish her all success for the development of Bengal. We bow our head. We will cooperate with her," Deb told a TV channel.

It may be remembered that Deb had submitted 'documents' to the Election Commission in support of his charges of the use of blackmoney by the Trinamool in its election expenses.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today congratulated Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee for her party's win in the West Bengal Assembly polls.

"I told her our relations have been since the time of Bangabandhu (Mujibur Rahman) and told her that we will work together for betterment," she said. "I quoted from Rabindranath Tagore's 'Amar Sonar Bangla Ami Tomay Bhalobashi' and told her that both Bangladesh and West Bengal will flourish," she said.

Why Karuna, Kani andcoare quaking in their respective shoes.

AIADMK spokesperson says J Jayalalithaa has no intention of sharing power with allies and will go after the DMK's first family on the issue of corruption.

Describing party chief Jayalalithaa as a "very powerful and strong political leader", AIADMK leader M Thambidurai said she will get a "full majority" to rule the state and "there is no point" in forming a coalition government.

"Therefore, my leader Amma is going to form the ministry alone," Thambidurai, leader of AIADMK in Lok Sabha, said.

He was responding to a question whether AIADMK's electoral alliance partner DMDK, led by actor turned politician Vijayakanth, will be part of the next government.

"The people have voted to root out the DMK corrupt government. It is the duty of my leader to take the necessary action and go through all these cases," Thambidurai said.

And here's why we love Mamata's speeches/interviews, and not just for her rhetoric. In her interview to CNN IBN, she says, "I'm a simple man."

CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury says the party accepts the people's verdict in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee on CNN IBN: Says the change (poriborton) acutally began in 2008 since the Panchayat elections. Says, "I want to dedicate myself to the nation. This is a victory of democracy. I don't want a bloodbath, I want peace, I want people to listen to Rabindra Sangeet. I want them to stay calm."

Is the new face of Mamata? Calm, forgiving,smiling, thoughtful.

(She actually quips: It's a Ma Mati Manush smile.)

The mood in Bengal from Kanchan Gupta's tweets:

Commerce returns to Bengal: Mamata/Trinamool merchandise doing brisk business!

Tasa and pipes playing, Shohag chand bodhoni dhoni nacho to dekhi... And everyone's dancing.

It's a sea of national colours -- saffron, white, green. With the twin clover leaf symbol of Mamata.

Women out in full strength. Sardars doing bhangra. Top cops march in to supervise sanitation of zone.

Gobbledygook, but superstition does make interesting reading. Friday, the 13, proved to be lucky for Trinamool Congress with the party set to assume power in West Bengal with a landslide win 13 years after its formation.

Mamata had founded the All India Trinamool Congress in January, 1998, and within 13 years, steered it to a massive victory in the state throwing out the over three-decade-old CPIM-led Left Front.

On the other hand, in 1977, the number had proved lucky for the CPIM when the party emerged out of a split with the Communist Party of India in 1964 and took over governance in West Bengal 13 years after its formation.

Before the counting, a sms was in circulation which read 'Counting date 13th May, Ma Mati Manush 13 letters, Mamata Banerjee 13 letters, chief minister 13 letters'.

Indrani beeps to say CPI-M's Ashim Dasgupta loses to Trinamool's Amit Mitra from Khardah. Are we looking at Bengal's new finance minister, given that he heads FICCI.

Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, which is set to come to power in West Bengal, today dispelled fears that its cadre could unleash violence against the Left parties, saying its movement had been for change and not revenge. Union Minister and Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi said Banerjee's movement has been for peace and development.

"Her motto has been change and not revenge...in fact it has been a vote against violence of the CPM," he said.

He was reacting to the apprehensions expressed by CPM MP Md Salim, who said violence should not erupt.

Also read: Vicky Nanjappa's interview

Easily, the Left's most respected leader, former Speaker Somnath Chaterjee says: "Clearly there was disconnect with the people and party leaders could not understand the mood of the people."

"Some mistakes were made and proper reviews were not made. This was already reflected in last Lok Sabha elections even though the Front tried to recover."

To a question what advise he would give to the party, he said, "I am not a member of CPI(M) so I cannot advise CPI(M)".

Chatterjee said, "I congratulate people and hope for peace and development in the state."

Chatterjee had campaigned for party leader and state Housing Minister Gautam Deb (lost the seat) in his Dum Dum constituency and for CPI(M) candidates Fuad Halim and Satarup Ghosh in the Ballygunge and Kasba constituencies.

On Twitter

Kanchan Gupta: Mamata fans on mobikes sweep past CPM hqrs, waving flags, shouting slogans. Wouldn't be so 24 hrs ago.

Pragya Tiwari:Mamata is the only woman leader who is not "someone's" wife, daughter or companion. She's made it on her own." True that.

And now for some tweets:

R Rajagopalan says:

Jayalalitha is being elected as Leader of ADMK MLAs on Sunday in Chennai. Her swearing is most likely on Wednesday.

Buzz is that a joint secretary in union home ministry will go as Secretary to Jayalalitha.

Come out of DMK was slogan by Tamil Nadu Congress MPs and MLAs at Burari AICC plenary, will Cong now repent its mistake?

A study of contrasts at the TMC and CPI-M headquarters.

Jubilation erupted at the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's modest residence in Kalighat, while gloom descended on the Left headquarters where outgoing CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (will resign at 2 pm) was closeted with party leaders.

TMC workers and supporters sang, danced and smeared each other with green gulal to the shouts of the 'Ma, Mati, Manush' slogan coined by the TC supremo and waved party flags before Banerjee's Harish Chatterjee Street residence.

Sweets were handed out and conches were blown as the area wore a festive look.

Securitymen had a tough time, but there was no disorderliness.

Many women party supporters were seen wearing saris printed with the party's symbol 'Jora ghasphool' (grass and flowers).

This picture of jubilation was witnessed earlier in 2009 when the Trinamool Congress won 19 Lok Sabha seats.

Indrani tells us that Subrata Mukherjee has won from Ballygunje, and Abhijit Mukherjee from Naihati.

TV images showing Mamata Banerjee quietly wiping her tears, just after she addressed crowds at her Kalighat residence.

Meanwhile,a quick profile of Bengal's next chief minister (unless, in the entirely unlikely event she does a Sonia and relinquishes power).

Mamata (56) , is the founder and chairperson of the Trinamool Congress which she set up in 1998 after falling out with the Congress Party in West Bengal.

For years the face of the Opposition in West Bengal, Banerjee, known to her supporters as Didi (sister) has been the nemesis of the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Front over the last 23 years and has earned the reputation of being a street-fighting (literally) politician.

Maverick and emotional, she first hogged the limelight by blocking Jayaprakash Narayan's convoy by throwing herself on the ground when he came to Kolkata to organise the masses against Indira Gandhi before Emergency.

She played on the anti-incumbency factor after more than three decades of Left rule and the creeping disillusionment among several sections.

Also read: Sheela Bhatt's interview with Mamata.

Strident, but not gloating in victory, Mamata is a picture of humility. This is her moment in the sun, and as someone who has no political godfathers, her win is indeed historic.

Mamata says Sonia Gandhi had also called to congratulate her.

Saysits a victory of the public, "a victory of Jungle Mahal,the downtrodden, the ordinary people. Bengal has wonnew freedomafter 34 years.We need patience, we dedicate this victory to every mother in this country."

Almost as much excitement as the Kate-William balcony appearance in Buckingham palace -- Mamata Banerjee makes her first public appearance after her historic electoral win.

Even in her win, she scolds her supporters, with a "Ektu chup korun. (Please keep quiet). Says PM Manmohan Singh (who is in Afghanistan) called to congratulate her. Interspersed by: Shanto hon (Calm down).

Indrani has got us Mamata Banerjee's first reaction after her historic win: A humble, and smiling, soon-to-be Bengal CM, said, "We thank the people with all humility.

This victory belongs to ma, mati, manush.

This victory will usher in joy in Bengal.

It's a moment of happiness. Let's all remember the martyrs who laid down their lives for the last three decades. We salute them.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will resign as the chief minister of West Bengal at 2 pm today, an obvious aftermath to the historic drubbing the Left Front received at the hands of the Trinamool Congress today. At last count, Buddhadeb trailed by 10,067 votes. The TMC notched up 221, the Left: 65.

As the DMK-Congress combine appeared set for a rout in Tamil Nadu, Congress today said it would "introspect" and will not dump ally DMK just because of an election defeat.

Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said the party accepts the verdict of the people of Tamil Nadu and congratulated AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa on her win in the elections.

"We accept the verdict. We would introspect and try to win the next elections," she said. Asked whether the alliance with DMK would continue, she said: "Of course, they are our allies. We cannot give up on our allies just because of an election defeat."

Heartening to see that despite all the freebies, the TN electorate has given the DMK a firm kick in the butt.

In the first elections after the 2G spectrum scam surfaced, the impact on the fortunes of the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu are obvious. The DMK leads with 43, the AIADMK with 191.

The assembly polls in Tamil Nadu were held against the backdrop of the scam in which the prime accused is former Telecom Minister A Raja, a trusted lieutenant of DMK chief and outgoing Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, whose daughter Kanimozhi is also charged in the scam.

Political analysts have insisted that the term family rule could help connect Jayalalithaa to the masses than the 2G scam which was an issue apparently restricted only to urban voters.

Incidentally, the assembly elections were seen as the last such exercise for wheel-chair bound Karunanidhi who was seeking to make his son and Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin his successor.

What must be absolutely eating up Karuna is whether Kanimozhi will meet A Raja tomorrow. (In Tihar jail, we mean)

Trinamool vice president Derek O'Brientweets: No more Lal Salaam. TMC slogans resound.

And...

The one traffic light in the world that was red for 34 years,just turned green.

The Congress has taken credit for Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee's win in Bengal. Says alliance has worked.

Rediff.com's Mohammed Siddique in Hyderabad says the Congress has suffered a setback in Andhra Pradesh where its rebel YS Jaganmohan Reddy established his hold over the Kadapa district.

While 38 year old Jagan retained the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat by a margin of more than 1 lakh votes, his mother Vijaya Lakshmi won the Pulivendula assembly seat by a margin of more than 30,000 votes.

Vijaya Lakshmi defeated her brother in law Y S Vivekanand Reddy while Jagan defeated D L Ravindra Reddy of Congress.

The Trinamool Congress-Congress combine is heading for a landslide win in West Bengal, establishing leads in 146 seats, while the ruling Left is leading in only 64 seats, according to the trends available from 217 of the 294 constituencies.

While the TMC+ is ahead in217 seats, theLeft 67.

The BJP is leading in one seat, other political parties in five, while one Indpendent is also ahead. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is trailing by 2,076 votes behind Trinamool Congress rival Manish Gupta in the Jadavpur constituency. Industry Minister and CPI(M) Politburo member Nirupam Sen is also behind his Trinamool Congress rival Rabi Ranjan Chatterjee by 2,986 votes in Burdwan South.

Of the other ministers in the outgoing government, Goutam Deb is trailing behind Bratya Basu of TC by 1443 votes in Dum Dum and Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta behind Amit Mitra of TC by 6,047 votes in Khardah. IT Minister Debesh Das is trailing behind Swarnakamal Saha of TC by 7,797 votes in Entally, while Sunderbans Development Minister Kanti Ganguly is trailing behind TC's Debasree Roy by 1,026 votes in Raidighi. Agriculture Minister Naren Dey of Forward Bloc is trailing behind Asit Majumder of TC by 10,365 votes in Chinsurah. Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee, the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Assembly is leading against Anupam Debsarkar of CPI(M) by 4,832 votes.

Shobha Warrier, our correspondent in Chennai, says AIADMK workers have begun bursting crackers outside Amma's residence in Poes Garden.

Kerala results:

Devaswom Minister Kadannapally Ramachandran (Congress-S) defeated by A P Abdullakutty (Cong) in Kannur. Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem (CPI-M) wins Beypore. IUML leader and former minister M K Muneer wins Kozhikode South.

M V Pradeep Kumar (CPI-M) wins Kozhikode (South) defeating P V Gangadharan (Congress). K Muraleedharan (Cong) wins Vattiyurkkav defeating the LDF-Ind Cheriyan Philip by over 8000 votes. M A Wahid (Cong) retains Kazhakkoottam in Thiruvanathapuram P K Vijayalakshmi (Cong) wrests Manathawadi (ST) from K C Kunhiraman (CPI-M).

Just seven, eight years ago, all Mamata Banerjee was known for, was her bandhs.

You had to set out for the airport or rail station hours ahead for fear Ms Banerjee would begin her indefinite rasta roko (she would always, always squat on the road, rain or shine). TheBengali bhadrolok would fumeand say, "Uff, mohila boddo jalai."(Loosely translated, the woman is a pain)

In 2011, the same bhadrolok has given her the vote, the mandate to steer the state away from the politics of the Left. For a party that began in 1997, that's no mean achievement.

Just 30 seats, has kept Puducherry out of the news, but here are some results. The ruling Congress won the Mahe Assembly constituency in the Union Territory with Health Minister E Valsraj retaining the seat.

Valsraj defeated his nearest CPI-M rival T K Gangadharan by a margin of over 6,000 votes.

Here are the figures for AIADMK Chief Jayalalithaa: She was leading in Srirangam by 1,100 votes, while CM and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi was leading by over 3,500 votes at Tiruvarur.

Ministers K Anbazhagan, K N Nehru and M R K Panneerselvam were trailing, while Deputy Chief Minister and Karunanidhi's son M K Stalin was ahead of his AIADMK rival S Doraisamy by 800 votes in Kolathur.

AIADMK cadre -- men and women -- dancing outside J Jayalalithaa's residence Poes Garden, Chennai.

The Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance was leading in 63 of the 294 Assembly constituencies in West Bengal, while the ruling Left Front was ahead in 35 seats, according to early trends available.

Other political parties were leading in two seats.

While the Trinamool Congress was ahead in 49 seats, its ally Congress was leading in 14.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was trailing behind Manish Gupta of Trinamool Congress by 839 votes in the Jadavpur Constituency, while CPI(M) star campaigner and state Housing Minister Goutam Deb was trailing behind Trinamool's Bratya Basu by 1443 votes in the Dum Dum constituency.

Expelled CPI(M) leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker today said the trends indicated that the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance was coming to power in West Bengal.

"The trend is clear and it seems that the opposition is coming to power," Chatterjee said. He said that the trends reflected the mandate and it would be be difficult for the CPI(M)-led Left Front to cope.

"This was already reflected in last Lok Sabha elections even though the Front tried to recover," the CPI(M) stalwart, who was expelled from the party for anti-party activities during the trust vote sought by the Manmohan Singh government in 2008, said.

Chatterjee, however, had campaigned for party leader and state Housing minister Gautam Deb at his Dum Dum constituency and for CPI(M) candidates Fuad Halim and Satarup Ghosh in the Ballygunge and Kasba

In Tamil Nadu: AIADMK ally CPI-M was leading in Tiruppur (South) and Maduravoyal constituencies.

CPM's K Thangavelu was leading by 3,135 votes against the Congress at Tiruppur (South) while Beema Rao was ahead of PMK's K Selvam by 1,365 votes at Maduravoyal.

Congress candidate Vijayadharini was leading over CPM's Leema Rose at Vilavankodu by 267 votes

This is what Mamata B has to say over the now impending --historical landslide victory for the TMC -- as celebratory green gulal is smeared on jubilant faces. A calm, and yes, smiling, Mamata said from her south Kolkata residence at Harish Chatterjee Street, "I will be happy if people triumph."

Some of the TMC chief's neighbours came with prasad and flowers from nearby Kalighat temple.

In Kerala: Opposition Congress leader in Kerala Oommen Chandy
retains Puthupally seat in Kottayam, defeating CPI(M) rival Suja Susan George by over 18,000 votes

Candidate results coming in...

Power Minister and CPI-M candidate A K Balan has won by a margin of over 21,000 votes in Tharur in Palakkad district, Kerala.

UDF's M V Sreyamskumar (SJD) won by 15,720 votes from Kalpetta in Wayanad district defeating CPI-M's P A Muhammed.

In Manathavady, P K Jayalakshmi (Cong) won by a margin of 11,872 votes defeating her neaest rival K C Kunhiraman (CPI-M).

TMC+ leads with 175. The magic figure is 148. Left trails with 67.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was leading by over 3,000 votes in Thiruvarur constitutency.

At Kolathur, Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin was leading by over 2,000 votes.

In Kerala: The Congress-led UDF had a slight edge over the ruling LDF in Kerala after the first hour of the counting of votes. As trends poured in from all 140 segments, UDF aspirants were leading in 62 segments and LDF candidates in 69. BJP's O Rajagopal was leading in Nemom over his nearest CPI(M) rival V Sivankutty by a margin of over 1000 votes.

In Tamil Nadu: The Cong candidate Vasanth Kumar, owner of Vasant TV is trailing against a new entrant. Wonder what will happen to Sun TV.

Gautam Dev of CPI-M trails in Dum Dum.

TMC's Amit Mitra leads in Khardah against state finance minister Ashim Dasgupta.

Indrani says early trends indicate a landslide victory for the TMC+.

Yet, this is what the CPM'sBiman Bose had to say in the Telegraph, Kolkata, yesterday. "Tomorrow, the media would have to lick the spit that they have hurled at us."

He was referring to the exit polls that predicted a Left rout.

"Those who have conducted exit polls after receiving contract money will realise how foolish they were' all are fools' exit polls are bogus,' he said.

Rediff.com's Onkar Singh caught up with Prakash Javdekar (BJP): We are already leading in two seats in Assam and we hope to make our presence felt in all the places. People vote local issues, but media looks at it globally.

Rediff.com's Onkar Singh saysD Raja of CPI is still optimistic. Says these are only trends, we have not given up hope and the party will react only after the results are announced. Results so far: Left: 10, TMC: 35, Others: 3.

Nilotpal Basu (CPI-M): We are winning in Kerala and are almost sure to form the government and we would like to wait for the results in WB.

Indrani Roy Mitra says: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is trailing in Jadavpur by a narrow margin.

This is what the BBC has to say on the West Bengal elections:

The longest-serving democratically elected communist government in the world is set to lose power, if exit polls in India are accurate. State election results are due in India, and observers are predicting a political earthquake in West Bengal.

In Bengal, CPI (M) leading in Jangipur by 500 votes.

In Kerala, BJP's O Rajagopal leads.

In Tamil Nadu, DMK 1 AIADMK 4 Others 1

Stringent securities arrangements have been made in the four centres of Tamil Nadu, where the counting of votes for 17 assembly constituencies. AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa had raised concerns with the Election Commission asking that the staff engaged in counting of votes in Tamil Nadu assembly polls tomorrow be "properly screened" and adequate measures taken to ensure a flawless process in the exercise.

Indrani has more figures for us: TMC+Cong leads in 8 seats, Left has a big zero. A day before counting for West Bengal assembly polls, Left Front chairman Biman Bose exuded confidence his alliance would emerge victorious with a comfortable margin, dismissing predictions of a landslide win for Trinamool Congress-Congress combine by most post-poll surveys. "When the EVMs will be opened tomorrow, it will be found that the Left Front has won by a very good margin."

Trends so far, indicate it will be Didi, not Dada for West Bengal. Counting is on at 87 per cent of the 312 polling centres.

OK, Indrani Roy Mitra says early trends show TMC+Cong leading in 23, Left in 10.

And in Kerala, VS Achuthanandan is trailing in Malampuzha.

Rediff.com's Indrani Roy Mitra who is at the counting centre at eastern Kolkata,says the postal ballot counting is on. So far, the Leftleads in 10, the TMC+Cong in 16.

In Kerala, really early trends indicate a close fight between LDF and the UDF, which is what the exit polls had also indicated. No clear markers yet.

And in Assam: Counting of votes polled in elections to the Assam Assembly began this morning at 48 centres across the state at all the 126 constituencies. State's additional chief electoral officer M Sahu said around 8000 personnel are involved in the counting.

The final results are expected to be declared by 6 pm.

In West Bengal:

• Counting of votes polled for 294 Assembly constituencies have began this morning.
• 14,500 personnel will be involved in the counting process at 87 counting centres with 312 halls.
• According to the latest EC instruction, counting for each constituency should be done in a single hall with the EC-deputed observer, returning officer and representatives of the candidates present so that there is absolute transparency.
• There will be a three-tier security at counting centres with one to be manned by central forces. About 75 companies of central forces have been deployed at the centres.

As the final phase of pollingconcluded in West Bengal on Tuesday, all eyes are now on May 13 when the fate of five chief ministers and their opponents are decided.

Exit polls, conducted by CVB News-C-Voter, suggest that Tamil Nadu: is set to have a new chief minister, the J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK.

In West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is all set to form the government. Apparently, there have been record sales of green gulal (the party's colour) in the state.

Rediff.com's Indrani Mitra says the Left leads in 3, TMC in 5.

The counting will take place in 142 counting halls in Assam, 140 in Kerala, 11 in Puducherry, 234 in Tamil Nadu and 312 in West Bengal.

While Kerala has an assembly strength of 140, Assam has 126, Tamil Nadu 234, Puducherry 30 and West Bengal 294.

A total of 14.16 crore voters exercised their franchise in the five states which was 20 per cent of the total 72.8 crore electorate in the country with Tamil Nadu and West Bengal (84.8 per cent) registering "all time record turnouts".