Washington, 6 Nov

Former President Donald Trump is leading his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in the latest rounds of vote count in the high-stakes US Presidential election but a clear picture is set to emerge on who will occupy the White House once definitive trends emerge from the seven battleground states.

Voting is still underway in the battleground state of Pennsylvania and several other states. But at the same time, counting of early ballots and mail-in votes is going on in these states.

As per the latest projections, Republican heavyweight Trump is picking up 154 electoral college votes as opposed to 81 by Harris. A candidate who wins 270 electoral votes or more becomes the president.

However, this lead may not necessarily mean inching closer to victory as the final result hinges on the outcome in the seven battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

According to the latest counting data, Harris is leading in the crucial battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin while Trump is cruising ahead in Georgia and North Carolina.

In Pennsylvania which has the maximum of 19 electoral college votes, the Vice President is cruising ahead getting 64.4 per cent of votes counted while her Republican rival has received 34.7 per cent.

In Georgia, nearly 80 per cent of the votes have been counted and Trump is ahead with 51.9% of the vote share.

As per initial results, Trump, 78, is set to notch up wins in Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, and Arkansas. Trump is also projected to win Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee while Harris is racing to emerge victorious in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Massachusetts. However, the Associated Press (AP) has called the race in favour of Trump in these states.

Harris, 60, is set to emerge victorious in Vermont, Delaware and New Jersey. AP has called the race in these states in favour of Harris.

The US has 50 states and most of them vote for the same party in every election except the swing states.

Generally, there is not much surprise over the candidates picking up victories in states other than the pivotal battleground ones. Overall a total of 538 electoral college votes are up for grabs.

If both candidates register victory in all the states that historically support the same party, then it will leave Harris 44 electoral college votes short of victory and Trump 51 votes short.

The swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, known as part of the Rust Belt, have been traditionally the strongholds of the Democratic Party.

However, Trump won the three of them in 2016. The states returned to the Democratic fold in the 2020 election.

Political experts said Harris will be the next US president if she wins the Rust Belt swing states.

The four swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina are called Sun Belt with a total electoral college vote of 49.

The Republicans have a stronger support base in the Sun Belt states. Even if Trump wins all four Sun Belt states, he will still be required to win one more in the Rust Belt.

If Harris wins the race, she will make history by becoming the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to become the US President.