Exit polls predict return of BJP led NDA to power

New Delhi: All leading exit polls on Sunday evening indicated a comfortable majority for the ruling BJP led NDA dispensation, strongly projecting its return to power in the 17th Lok Sabha elections. 

As the curtain came down on the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections on Sunday, the focus turned to the projections being made by the exit polls by several news channels and surveys for the 542 seats that went to polls. 

Times Now-VMR exit poll predicted 306 seats for the BJP-led NDA ruling dispensation. It projected 132 seats for the Congress-led UPA while gave others 104 seats. 

Republic-C Voter projected 287 seats for the BJP-NDA coalition and 128 for the Congress-UPA. According to News Nation predicted 282-290 seats for the BJP-led NDA, 118 ? 126 seats for UPA and 130-136 for others. 

According to surveys, BJP seems to have regained lost ground in three crucial Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh which the Lotus party had lost last years in assembly polls to the Congress. The exit polls indicate that BJP could win 22 out of 25 total seats in Rajasthan, 25 out of 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh and seven out of 11 seats in Chhattisgarh. In the national capital of Delhi, exit polls predicted a clean sweep for the BJP on all seven Lok Sabha seats. 

The first phase of polling had kicked off on April 11 and the long drawn campaign and polling amidst heat and dust proved to be a tiresome affair for the political bigwigs as well as the people. A 90-crore strong electorate was registered in 2019 general elections, showing an increase of nine crore electors as compared to the last polls in 2014. (UNI)