Punjab has 117 seats in its Assembly. Congress, led by Captain Amarinder Singh, is hopeful of wresting power from the Shiromani Akali Dali-Bharatiya Janata Party Alliance. This election also sees Aam Aadmi Party contest for the first time in Punjab. Exit polls have predicted a rout for the SAD-BJP.

6.07pm: With only one seat remaining, Congress is clearly the winner in Punjab. Of the 117 seats in the Assembly, Captain Amarinder Singh’s party has won 76 and is leading in the last seat that is being counted. AAP did better than SAD, with 20 seats to SAD’s 15.

4:25 pm: Parkash Singh Badal concedes defeat in the Assembly election.

4.11pm: Navjot Singh Sidhu wins Amritsar (east) for Congress, with 60,477 votes. His closest competitor was BJP’s Rajesh Kumar Honey with 17, 668 votes. Lok Insaf Party’s Balwinder Singh Bains (of Bains Brothers fame) has won from Ludhiana (south) with a huge margin of 30,970 votes.

3.45pm: Dear voters of Zira, you have our respect for being able to tell which Gurpreet/Kulbir to vote for (also, you’d think Stephen Bhatti would win just for standing out).

In Batala, the AAP frontrunner  Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi has lost to SAD’s Lakhbir Singh Lodhinangal. Manpreet Singh Badal — he is Sukhbir Singh Badal’s cousin who left SAD, formed the People’s Party of Punjab (which failed miserably in 2012) and contested this time for Congress — has won from Bhatinda (urban).

3:22pm:

3.15pm: Results are in for most of Punjab’s constituencies and Congress has the largest slice the vote share in the state.

Source: Election Commission of India.

2:49 pm:

2.32pm: Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal of Shiromani Akali Dal has held on to Lambi, beating Congress’s Captain by more than 20,000 votes.

2.03pm: Here’s the latest from the Election Commission of India:

01:33 pm:

12.33pm: While in Patiala, Captain Amarinder Singh is well ahead of his rival, but in Lambi, it’s not looking good for him.

Still, Punjab remains the one state that Congress can look at with relief.

12:00: Three hours after counting, these are the official numbers from the Election Commission of India.

11.50am: Just shy of noon, here’s what the different television channels are saying about the different leads.

11.04am: For all its confident posturing, it looks Punjabi isn’t going the AAP way. While AAP is leading in 25, Congress is leading in 66 seats. SAD-BJP is ahead in 23.

10:43 am:

10:31 am : Outside Congress office, leaders raise slogans of ‘Congress Party Zindabad, Rahul Gandhi Zindabad’.

10.16am: Of 117 seats, Congress is leading in 63. SAD+BJP’s performance is better than expected while AAP is at 23 at present. These are leads, not results.

9.42am: Sharp change in tone from AAP. Ashish Khetan of AAP points out that they’re newcomers and whatever they get in these elections is a big step for them because they were up against a grand old party like Congress.

9.30am: In terms of leads, AAP is not doing as well as expected in the Malwa region. AAP is leading in 15 of the 117 seats.

9.07am: There are very early leads are in for 18 out 117 seats. Congress is doing well in the Malwa and Majha regions. Ashutosh, of AAP, told Rajdeep Sardesai that he’s confident AAP will form the government in Punjab and that these leads will veer towards AAP soon.

8.50am: Here’s what the exit polls have predicted for Punjab:

8.40am: Early leads are coming in from Punjab as the first round of counting begins. These are mostly postal ballots, so it’s really too early to predict anything.

8am: Counting begins now. While we wait for the first of the leads to come in, read about how this Assembly election is Captain Amarinder’s last stand (or so he says).  When AAP had announced its attention of contesting in Punjab, we’d spoken to Durgesh Pathak about the party’s plan.