Exit polls have forecast a huge triumph and a third consecutive tenure for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat.
The Congress is expected to hold the edge in the BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh.
Three exit polls, which announced their results on Monday, gave a near landslide to the BJP in Gujarat, ruled by Narendra Modi, with the Congress ending up losing what it had held in the outgoing Assembly.
The maximum number of seats to the BJP was given by an exit poll conducted by Chanakya. It has predicted 140 of the 182 seats for the BJP.
According to the polls carried out by C-Voter, the BJP is likely to romp home with 119 to 129 seats. The Congress is projected to win 49-59 seats.
In the 2007 Assembly elections, the BJP had secured 117 seats and the Congress 59.
The ABP News-Neilsen poll gave 126 seats to the BJP leaving the Congress with 50.
According to the poll carried out by Chanakya, the BJP may touch 140 and the Congress 40, the lowest among all the exit polls. Headlines Today projected the BJP to get between 118 and 128 seats. The Congress is likely to win 50 to 56 seats.
The BJP had garnered a vote share of 49 per cent and the Congress 38 per cent in 2007.
As per these projections, the Gujarat Parivartan Party of former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, who left the BJP to form his regional outfit, is expected to get not more than six seats.
The Congress, written off in Gujarat, may get some solace in the hilly Himachal Pradesh. Unlike the clear mandate in Gujarat, two exit polls gave contrasting results for Himachal Pradesh.
In Himachal Pradesh, C-Voter predicted 30 to 38 seats for the Congress while the BJP is likely to get 27 to 35 seats in the 68-member assembly. However, it could be touch and go, if a post-poll survey conducted by Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, is any indication.
The poll, done for CNN-IBN and “The Week,” gave an identical 29-35, out of the total 68 seats, for the Congress and BJP. It favoured 41 per cent for Virbhadra Singh.