Exit polls predict BJP's return to power in Maha, Haryana with ‘bigger mandate’

NEW DELHI: The BJP looks set to return to power in Maharashtra and Haryana as the exit polls forecast a thumping majority for the saffron party and its allies in both the states while predicting a gloomy picture for the Congress.

All the five pollsters predicted a return to office for Devendra Fadnavis and Manohar Lal Khattar, giving more than two-third seats for the BJP-led NDA in Maharashtra and Haryana.

The news agency-exit poll projected 166-194 seats for the BJP-Shiv Sena combine and 72-90 for the Congress-NCP alliance in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly.

Cicero poll survey predicted 197 seats for BJP-Shiv Sena while gave Congress-NCP 75 seats. The ABP-C Voter predicted 204 seats for the BJP-Shiv Sena and 69 for the Congress-NCP.

In Haryana, the BJP is likely to achieve Mission 75 as predicted by Manohar Lal Khattar and return to power with a bigger mandate in the 90-seat Assembly. In Haryana, the ABP-C Voter forecast 72 and 8 seats for the BJP and the Congress respectively. The CNN-IPSOS projected 75 seats for BJP and 10 seats for the Congress.

The poll of polls gave the BJP and Congress 66 and 14 seats respectively in Haryana. In Maharashtra, it gave 211 and 64 to the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance and the Congress-NCP respectively.

In 2014 the BJP and the Sena had won 122 seats and 63 seats respectively followed by 42 and 41 seats by the Congress and the NCP. All four parties had contested independently in the previous assembly polls. In Haryana, the BJP had won 47 followed by INLD’s 19 and 15 of the Congress.