Ruling alliance in the lead, exit polls show

Mumbai, Maharashtra: Exit poll projections have predicted the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine having a clear lead in the Maharashtra assembly elections with the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance trailing even as Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) emerging with a negligible number of seats.

A far better turnout at 60 per cent for the state and 52 per cent for Mumbai, an improvement on the 41 per cent during the Lok Sabha elections this year in the city, has given a whole new variety of numbers for the assembly polls, the results of which will be known on October 22. The CNN-IBN-Lokmat exit poll has forecast 135-145 seats for the Congress-NCP, 105-115 for the Sena-BJP, 8-12 for the MNS and 25-35 for the others in the 288-member assembly. This is almost the same as in 2004 when the two allies got 140 seats, very close to the magical number of 145 required for a simple majority.

The only difference this time is that the Congress is expected to get a higher number of seats — 75 to 85 while the NCP will bag 55 to 65 seats. Projected for the Sena are 55-65 seats and BJP 45-55 seats whilst the MNS, fighting the assembly elections for the first time, will fare poorly, after all the noise made on the Marathi manoos issue by its leader Raj Thackeray.

Giving the Congress-NCP far higher gains of 171 seats is Live India's exit poll that has predicted just 85 seats for the Sena-BJP alliance, 17 for MNS and 15 for others. On the other hand, Star Maaza's predictions project 125 for the Congress and NCP, 119 for the saffron allies, 18 for Raj's party and 26 for the rest.

Victory for congress

The Congress party is set to win outright in Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh, according to exit polls.

Thanks mainly to a splintered opposition, the Congress is expected to sweep Haryana and win in Arunachal Pradesh, the northeastern state which has been in the news because of Chinese claims to the territorry.

The Star News expected the Congress to win 57 seats in the 90-member Haryana house and retain power.

After voting, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda declared: "The Congress will sweep this elections." The Hooda government got the previous assembly dissolved seven months before its term was to end and sought fresh mandate.

In Arunachal, Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and two more Congress members have been elected unopposed.