India’s Election Results: Live Full Coverage

So, here we go. You can see trends and results directly from the Election Commission of India website by clicking HERE.

Almost 1,000,000 -- you read that right, one million -- polling stations were set up for the elections, the world's largest democratic exercise -- click here to see a short video from TicToc by Bloomberg of one of the polling stations.

My colleague V. Ramakrishnan shared how the quirky Indian diaspora has rented a U.S. cinema to watch the results being telecast. The scholarly folks at the London School of Economics are being a bit more sedate

The election results are the equivalent of the Super Bowl for the Indian diaspora. While a vast majority may be following the trends via Twitter or webcasts, some plan to watch with a generous helping of soda and popcorn. An entire screen has been booked at a cinema in the U.S. to watch the show through the night and it is titled, well guess what: Judgment Day.

For our readers outside India who are seeing images from the Indian elections that show posters and flags with different symbols and wondering what they are: Each political party has been assigned a symbol by the Election Commission of India -- its website has a helpful list allotted for this election -- which include a bicycle, lion, ceiling fan and table lamp. A key reason to assign symbols is to ensure illiterate voters are able to identify the party of their choice easily. For the main parties:

The counting of votes is set to start at 8 a.m. India time (10:30 a.m. Hong Kong) for 542 of 543 constituencies as voting in one seat in south India has been cancelled. Initial trends will begin to emerge around 10 a.m. India time (12:30 p.m. Hong Kong) and a clearer picture may take shape around midday. We are expecting some clarity on who will be in a leading position by about 1 p.m. Here's a look at the outcome of previous general elections:

All exit polls pointed in one direction -- the return of Modi. The most optimistic was India Today Axis My India poll, predicting as many as 365 seats for BJP and allies. Today's Chanakya, the most accurate forecaster of 2014 election, gave 350 to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition.

1) Ruling coalition regains power: All exit polls signal Prime Minister Narendra Modi, riding a wave of resurgent nationalism, will comfortably win a majority of seats in the 543-strong lower house of parliament. Given the financial markets have already priced in this victory, it's unclear how much further they could rally

2) Weakened ruling coalition returns: If Modi's party needs more allies to reach a majority, markets may give up some gains

3) Surprise loss: Exit polls have been wrong in the past. In case of an upset, the most likely situation will be an alliance led by the main opposition Congress party, together with a bunch of regional parties. The markets may drop and investors will want to see who'll be named prime minister

4) No clear trends: In the unlikely scenario that no single party wins a decisive mandate, regional leaders could band together and make a bid for power. There's no immediate reason to panic -- India and its economy have survived coalition governments before -- but the markets will probably drop sharply in such an event

If all goes smoothly, today's results will mark the 17th consecutive peaceful transition of power in India. Every adult citizen has had the right to vote since the nation won independence from the British in 1947. As author Ornit Shani wrote in her book How India Became Democratic: Citizenship and the Making of the Universal Franchise: