Even as the BJP-led NDA has lost ground in north India, it has gained in two southern states, a domain that had previously been a bridge too far.
The highlight is the NDA opening its Lok Sabha account in Kerala. BJP's star candidate Suresh Gopi has sealed victory from Thrissur by a whopping margin of over 74,000.
The NDA's biggest gain in the south was in Andhra Pradesh, where the BJP was poised to win three seats. The BJP had drawn a blank in the state in the 2019 polls.
CM Ramesh in Anakapalle, Daggubati Purandheshwari in Rajahmundry and Bhupathi Raju Srinivasa Varma in Narsapuram have secured decisive leads of more than 2 lakh votes.
In Tamil Nadu, the BJP's tally remains blank. Its ally, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) ran close in Dharmapuri. Its contestant Sowmiya Anbumani had led the race for most of the day but appears to be slipping up in the final stretch with DMK's Mani A extending his lead close to over 10,000.
Meanwhile, in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, BJP's state presidents have tasted defeats. In Tamil Nadu, BJP state chief Annamalai K, who had been a star campaigner not just in his home state, but even in neighbouring Kerala, trailed by more than 50,000 votes to DMK's (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) Ganapathy Rajkumar P. His predecessor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan also poised to lose by over 50,000 votes to T Sumathy of DMK from Chennai South.
In Kerala, BJP state chief K Surendran was relegated to the third position in Wayanad, where Rahul Gandhi did a repeat, securing a majority of more than 3,64,000 votes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made more than 140 visits to the five southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana and Tamil Nadu in the last 10 years. It was widely seen as an attempt to penetrate the southern state.