Senior leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance held an emergency meeting at Indian Prime Minister's residence Thursday to discuss the unexpected set back in the early counting of the general elections.

The meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani,BJP President Venkaiah Naidu, senior ministers Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj and party General Secretary Pramod Mahajan besides National Democratic Alliance convenor George Fernandes.

India's main opposition Congress party has begun celebrating after gaining a lead in India's general election that has taken observers by surprise.

Its alliance has won 102 of the 206 seats declared so far and is projected to beat the governing BJP-led alliance.

At noon, the BJP and its allies were leading in only 194 parliamentary seats, way behind the 272-mark needed for a majorityin the 545-member Lok Sabha, or lower house of parliament. The Congress and its allies had gained in 218 seats, and the Congress appeared set to become the largest party in the Lok Sabha for the first time after 1991.

Source: Xinhua