New Delhi: The BJP appears set to retain power with a bigger mandate in Maharashtra, where it is in an alliance with the Shiv Sena, as well as in Haryana, with exit polls forecasting an easy victory for the party in the two states and a rout for its rivals, led by the Congress.
Exit polls, broadcast soon after polling for the Maharashtra and Haryana assembly polls was concluded on Monday, varied widely in their projection of seats for the rival alliances, but were in no doubt about an emphatic victory with more than two-thirds seats for the BJP-led NDA in both the states.
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The India Today-Axis exit poll projected 166-194 seats for the BJP-Shiv Sena in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly and 72-90 for the Congress-NCP alliance.
The exit poll by News18-IPSOS gave the BJP a near-majority on its own by predicting a whopping 142 seats for the saffron party and 102 for its ally Shiv Sena. The Congress and the NCP would bag 17 and 22 seats respectively, it predicted.
The ABP-C Voter predicted 210 seats for the BJP-Shiv Sena and 63 for the Congress-NCP, while the corresponding figures by Times Now were 230 and 48.
In Haryana, the BJP’s win was predicted to be even more dominant.
The ABP-C Voter forecast 70 and eight seats for the BJP and the Congress respectively in the 90-member house. The CNN-IPSOS projected 75 and 10 seats for the two parties respectively.
The Times Now survey gave the BJP and the Congress 71 and 11 seats respectively.
The NDTV’s poll of polls gave the BJP and the Congress 66 and 14 seats respectively in Haryana, and 211 to the saffron alliance and 64 to the Congress-NCP in Maharashtra.
The BJP’s campaign was centred on the dilution of Article 370 of the Constitution and national security, with development works of its state governments playing second fiddle.
In 2014, the BJP and the Sena had won 122 seats and 63 seats respectively in Maharashtra, followed by 42 and 41 seats by the Congress and the NCP. All four parties contested the polls independently.
In Haryana, the BJP had won 47 seats, followed by the Indian National Lok Dal’s (INLD) 19 and 15 for the Congress.
(PTI)