BJP sees a walkover

Exit polls absurd, says Congress as parties take stock.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday claimed that the 22-party alliance led by it would secure 103 of the 140 seats that went to polls in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections yesterday.

Both the BJP and the Congress were in a huddle on Wednesday to take stock of the polling trends. The Congress, however, rejected the exit poll results and claimed the exit polls were "absurd".

The party's strategy committee, which met here today, said the party expected to get at least 5-10 seats more than the projected seats for the NDA in the exit polls.

An internal survey by the BJP gives the party 24 of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, improving on its earlier tally of 21. Of the 11 seats in the first phase in Bihar, the BJP-led alliance is expected to bag nine with BJP alone getting five.

In Chhattisgarh, the survey projected a sweep for the party with all the 11 seats, while in Jharkhand, it gave the party four out of six. In Andhra Pradesh, it is expecting to get four of the 21 seats.

In Maharashtra, the BJP is expecting to bag eight of the 24 seats with its ally Shiv Sena getting another six.