Exit polls see NDA's chances reviving

Minor setback for Congress & SP in the third phase of polls.

Exit polls on Wednesday gave the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) higher chances of forming the government as they forecast minor setbacks for the Congress and the Samajwadi Party in the third phase of polling to 83 seats spread over Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

The NDA's overall tally may be just short of an absolute majority in the 543- member Lok Sabha after the third phase of polls which saw a turnout of 50-55 per cent amid sporadic violence. The gains for the Baratiya Janata Party (BJP) were not as substantial as expected from Uttar Pradesh.

While the party had put the figure of its recovery from central Uttar Pradesh at 17, up 10 seats from the seven it currently holds, exit polls put the figure at 11- 14, not the increase the BJP expected.

However a common feature of the polls is that the consolidated figure of seats for the NDA in all the exit polls is approximately the same, hovering between 245 and 282.

The poll that stood out was the one conducted by Aaj Tak, that, forecast 268 seats for the NDA, but 175 for the Congress and as many as 100 for others, suggesting that the NDA still needed to get its act together because if all the others joined the Congress, it could outnumber the NDA.