The ruling BJP will form a government comfortably, as it did in 2014, predicted the poll of exit polls yesterday, after the completion of the final phase of elections. The poll of polls, an aggregate of the exit polls, said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance or NDA, will win 302 of 542 Lok Sabha seats. The poll of polls said the Congress and its allies would win 122 seats.
The declaration of the poll of polls may have an effect on the opposition's efforts to cobble together an anti-BJP front in a bid to form the next government, although exit polls often do not get it right.
Earlier today, the Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP said its chief Mayawati would not hold meetings with opposition leaders in Delhi today, reported news agency ANI, quoting senior BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra.
She was expected to meet Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu among other opposition leaders in Delhi. Mr Naidu met the BSP chief on Saturday in Lucknow.
He also met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Sunday as last phase of national elections was held in 59 parliamentary seats across seven states and one union territory. The TDP chief flew to West Bengal today and met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Mr Naidu was criticised by BJP ally Shiv Sena earlier today. "Why Chandrababu Naidu is exhausting himself without any reason? Hope his current excitement last till May 23. We wish him luck for the same," the Shiv Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana.
