Four different polls suggest a tight battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Grand Alliance.

Photo credit: IANS

An average of five early exit polls conducted on Thursday showed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic edging slightly ahead of the Maha Gatbandhan, or the Grand Alliance, in the Bihar assembly elections. The Grand Alliance is comprised of the Janata Dal (United), the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress party.

An exit poll conducted by Times Now-CVoter claimed that Nitish Kumar is set to remain the chief minister of Bihar, with the Grand Alliance managing to reach the magic number of 122 seats in the house of 243. The BJP, however, is set to be the single largest party, with the NDA winning 111 seats. The figures for the exit poll were recorded till 2pm on Thursday.

Another poll by the India Today Group-CICERO claimed that the BJP-led alliance is projected to win between 113-127 seats, while the Grand Alliance will win between 111-123 seats. This poll was based on voting recorded until 3pm.

A poll by NewsX said that the Grand Alliance will emerge as big winners with as many as 135 seats, with the NDA grabbing just 95 seats. According to the ABP Nielsen poll, the JD()U+ will win 130 seats, while the NDA will get 108. Today's Chanakya, which was the only agency to predict the 2014 Lok Sabha polls right, pegged the NDA at 155 and the Grand Alliance at 83.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad claimed that the Grand Alliance will win no less than 190 seats, while the BJP's Giriraj Singh said the NDA would get a two-third majority.

In the 2010 assembly elections, the JD(U) and the BJP were in an alliance and won a massive majority. The JD(U) had won 115 seats and the BJP 91. The RJD had won 22 seats and the Congress just four when they contested independently.