Fourth Front ahead in 30 constituencies

The Fourth Front parties, which could play a role in government formation at the Centre, were ahead in 30 Lok Sabha constituencies, as per trends available from 440 seats till 10 am.

Samajwadi Party was ahead in 19 places in Uttar Pradesh, where it is contesting 76 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats. The party had last time bagged 36 seats - 35 in Uttar Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand, which has five Lok Sabha seats.

RJD was leading at three places in Bihar, including Pataliputra, from where its president Lalu Prasad is in the fray. Prasad was, however, trailing in Saran during the initial rounds of counting.

RJD had contested 26 of the 40 seats in Bihar in 2004 in alliance with Congress and won 22. This time it is contesting 28 seats in alliance with LJP and SP.

Congress is going it alone at 37 places in the state. Outside Bihar, RJD had won two of the 14 seats in Jharkhand and the party is this time trying its luck at six places in that state.

LJP headed by Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan was trailing at all the 12 seats it was contesting in Bihar. The party had contested eight seats last time and won four.