Poll of exit polls gives no room to Congress; resounding majority for BJP in Maharashtra, Haryana

Voters have sealed the fate of candidates across Haryana and Maharashtra. Polling in both the states was held from 7 am to 6 pm on Monday. Now, will the BJP and its allies be successful in retaining power in Haryana and Maharashtra, or will the Opposition turn the tide and manage to stop the saffron juggernaut? Most of the exit polls have predicted a thumping majority for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in both Haryana and Maharashtra. The exit polls, however, do not necessarily reflect the actual October 24 result.

Here's what various exit polls are predicting. We bring to you poll of exit polls for Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly Elections 2019. Please note that these are numbers from a sample survey conducted by those mentioned below. Actual results will be declared on October 24.

HARYANA (90)

If we go by the exit polls, it looks like Khattar-led BJP in Haryana is close to the realisation of its 75-seat target. Majority of the exit polls have predicted 70+ seats for the saffron party in Haryana where Congress is hoping to make a comeback following a change in guard in the state. The poll of polls for BJP is 72. The grand-old-party has got a handful of seats in the prediction of exit polls, down at 9 in the poll of polls.

As many as 1,169 candidates of various political parties are in the fray. Currently, the BJP has 48 members in the 90-member state assembly. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, JJP's Dushyant Chautala and INLD's Abhay Singh Chautala were among the prominent figures.

MAHARASHTRA (288)

In Maharashtra, most of the exit polls have predicted a landslide victory for Fadnavis-led BJP who is seeking a second straight term. Majority of the exit polls have given the saffron party 200+ seats in the exit polls while figures vary with distinct margins for the Congress party. As per the poll of polls analysis, BJP+ is at 215, Congress at 58. 

BJP is contesting 164 seats which include candidates of smaller allies contesting on its lotus symbol, while Sena has fielded candidates on 126 seats. On the other hand, the Congress has fielded 147 candidates and the ally NCP 121. Prominent candidates in the fray are Chief Minister Fadnavis and his predecessors from Congress, Ashok Chavan, who is in fray from Bhokar in Nanded district, and Prithviraj Chavan seeking re-election from Karad South in Satara district. Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray, son of Uddhav Thackeray, is contesting from Worli in Mumbai. The 29-year-old is the first from the Thackeray family to make debut in electoral politics.

The high-voltage electioneering by the BJP saw participation of a galaxy of leaders led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, as it continued to aggressively raise the nationalism plank by focusing on scrapping of Article 370 provisions on special status to Jammu and Kashmir and targeted the opposition on national security and corruption. The opposition tried to corner the BJP governments at the Centre and in the states on the handling of the economy with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi blaming the ruling party for the economic slowdown and unemployment and highlighting issues like "failure" of demonetisation and GST rollout.

ALSO READ | Voting ends in Maharashtra & Haryana

ALSO READ | Chhattisgarh's Chitrakot records higher voter turnout