At the end of the second phase of polling covering over half the Lok Sabha constituencies on Monday night, exit polls by television channels showed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance losing steam and predicted a hung Parliament.
Based on the results of the exit polls, Aaj Tak channel predicted the NDA would get 266, 36 less than in 1999, Congress and Allies 175 and Others 102 seats in the 543-member House.
Star News-C Voter analysis projected 267-279 seats for NDA, 162-172 for Congress and Allies and 97-109 to others.
For the 276 seats where polling has already been held, the Aaj Tak survey gave the NDA 144 seats (28 less than the last elections), 100 to Congress (31 more than earlier) and 32 to Others (three less than the 1999 tally).
Sahara-DRS and Zee-Taleem gave 155 and 125 seats respectively to the NDA. Sahara-DRS gave 99 seats to Congress and Allies up till the second phase and 24 to Others and the Zee poll predicted 89 for Congress and 64 for others. According to Sahara, Congress is so far expected to gain 23 seats while NDA may lose 19 and Others four.
Out of the 136 seats, which went to polls on Monday, Star News predicted 68-80 seats for NDA, 38-50 to Congress and Allies and 12-24 to Others.
The Zee-Taleem survey showed Congress getting 46, NDA 54 and Others, including Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Asom Gana Parishad, bagging 36 seats.
Sahara-DRS showed NDA getting 70, Congress and Allies 49 and Others 17 seats.
Exit Polls in Graphs
Congress was seen to be gaining, especially in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh where polling has been completed. It is also seen to be performing well in Uttar Pradesh where 32 out of 80 seats went to the polls.
In the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Zee showed Congress winning six seats (a gain of three) and the BJP 11 (down two). It gave eight seats to BSP (3+), six to SP (-4) and one to Others.
Aaj Tak gave 11 seats to BJP, 13 to SP, four to BSP, three to Congress and one to Others, while Star News predicted 12 seats to BJP, six to Congress, eight to SP, five to BSP and one to Others.
In Bihar, where polling has now been completed in 28 out of 40 seats after two rounds, Zee said the BJP-JD(U) combine would get 14 seats (four-BJP, 10-JD(U)), RJD-Congress combine eight and Others six.
Aaj Tak showed BJP-JD(U) getting 18, Congress-RJD nine and Others one, while Star News gave 20 seats to the NDA and eight to Laloo Prasad Yadav and his allies.
In Maharashtra, Aaj Tak showed the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine getting 25 seats (a gain of 14 seats) while the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance was getting 21 seats (a loss of seven) and Others getting two.
Zee showed the BJP-Shiv Sena losing nine seats to get 19. However, it gave 16 to the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra and 13 to Others.
In Andhra Pradesh, Aaj Tak showed Congress bagging 29 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats, the TDP-BJP combine losing 24 seats to end up with 12 and Others getting only one.
Zee gave 24 seats to the Congress-combine, 16 to TDP-BJP and two to Others.
Sahara-DRS differed on its estimates showing the Congress combine getting 16 seats and the TDP-BJP getting 25 in the state.
Star News also predicted a change of government in Telugu Desam Party-ruled Andhra Pradesh and Congress-led Karnataka, where assembly polls were held simultaneously.
In Karnataka, BJP was shown to be performing better with Aaj Tak projecting 15 seats and 11 for Congress out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Zee, however, gave nine seats to the BJP-JD(U) alliance, 12 to Congress and seven to Others, including H D Deve Gowda's JD(S).
In Orissa, where polling was completed for all the 21 seats, Star News showed the BJP-BJD combine getting 14 and Congress only four. According to Zee, BJP-BJD would get around 15 seats with the rest going to Congress.
In Jharkhand, Star News showed BJP getting six and Congress eight, while Zee showed BJP getting nine, Cong-JMM getting three and others two.
In Assam, the regional Asom Gana Parishad was predicted to bag five out of the 13 seats for which polling has been completed, Zee said adding BJP is likely to get three and Congress only four as compared to ten it held in the dissolved House.
