BJP-led National Democratic Alliance likely to get comfortable majority, exit polls suggest

Several exit polls on Saturday predicted a comfortable win for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the Lok Sabha elections, claiming at least 300 seats for the coalition.

While the Opposition INDIA bloc could win between 118 to 150 parliamentary seats, other parties could secure anywhere between 30 to 55 seats, according to most pollsters. A party or a coalition needs 272 seats to form the government.

The CVoter-ABP News exit poll predicted 353-383 seats for the National Democratic Alliance, 152-182 seats for the INDIA bloc and 4-12 seats for other contenders. It pegged the National Democratic Alliance’s vote share at 45% of votes polled while the INDIA bloc could secure around 40% and other contenders 15%.

The exit poll by Axis My India-India Today estimated 361-401 seats for the National Democratic Alliance, 131-166 for the INDIA bloc and 8-10 seats for others in the fray.

Another poll by Today’s Chanakya-News24 has predicted 400 seats for the National Democratic Alliance within a confidence interval of 385 to 415 seats, and 107 seats for the INDIA bloc within a confidence interval of 96 to 118 seats. Other contenders are expected to secure between 27 to 45 seats.

Today’s Chanakya-News24 has also predicted 335 seats for the Bharatiya Janata Party, give or take as many as 15 seats. The Congress is predicted to win 50 seats, give or take as many as 11.

Data from the exit polls was published after voting for the seventh and final phase of the general elections ended on Saturday. The preceding six phases of the election were held on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20 and May 25. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won 303 seats of its own. The National Democratic Alliance had won 353 seats. The Congress had won 52 seats and the United Progressive Alliance it led had won 91 seats.

The Congress had on Friday said that it would not participate in television debates about the exit polls, saying that it did not want to “indulge in speculation”. However, Congress spokesperson Pawan later announced a reversal of the party’s stance on Saturday.

“INDIA parties met and decided to expose the BJP and its ecosystem on the prefixed exit polls,” Khera said in a post on X. “After considering factors for and against participating in the exit polls, it has been decided by consensus that all the INDIA parties will participate in the exit poll debates on television this evening.”

Commenting on the Congress changing its stance, BJP social media cell chief Amit Malviya remarked: “24 hours after making a complete fool of themselves, Congress withdraws its decision to boycott Exit Polls. A party that can’t take such a simple decision wants to govern India?”

Ahead of the release of the exit polls, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge predicted that the Opposition INDIA alliance will win at least 295 seats.

This is a developing story. It will be updated as more details become available.

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