UPA wins

For the numbers, some really cool graphics representing them, constituency wise results and just about everything, you can go here.
The UPA alliance put up a performance that must have surprassed even its own most optimistic estimates.
UPA - 262. NDA - 157.
Thanks to the results I hear sighs of relief all around, not so much because UPA won but because someone won. A badly fractured verdict was every body's biggest fear and most are happy that UPA's been given a clear mandate.
Mostly because it is still fresh in the minds how the coalition partners (esp DMK and Left) wielded disproportionate power in policy decisions, last time around.
But one wonders if all the euphoria on this government being shackle-free misplaced? After all, the DMK is still going to be a part of the govt. And if the Left is out, Mamata Banerjee is in.
Will the Congress party's strong individual performance (206 seats) lend enough weight to its voice so as to keep the regional/smaller parties in their place?

Highlights.
-Congress + Trinamool Congress make surprising inroads into the Left bastion in West Bengal.
-DMK proves most exit-polls wrong in Tamil Nadu.
-Congress must have surprised itself with its performance in UP. Rahul Gandhi proves his mettle in the harsh and rugged political landscape of Uttar Pradesh?!
-YSR delivers Andhra Pradesh to Congress, safe and sound. Both Lok Sabha and Assembly.
-LK Advani loses out on what maybe his last shot at being the PM of the country.

Locally.
-I am glad that we managed to avoid a hung assembly.
-Relieved that KCR and TRS go further down the road of being irrelevant. Thank God for that.
-Happy that Jai Prakash Narayana won from Kukatpally. It is the only seat that Lok Satta won, but that is hardly a surprise. One look at the party wise break up of the votes polled in various constituencies, especially in Hyderabad, should give him and his party enough hope to carry on for the next five years. Cheers to that!