Jammu and Kashmir has registered its highest voter turn-out in assembly elections in the last 25 years. (Press Trust of India photo)
Exit polls have predicted a near complete victory for the BJP and its alliance in Jharkhand and a hung Assembly with upper hand for the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir in the just-concluded Assembly elections.
NDTV's poll of polls - which aggregates the results of three exit polls - shows the BJP and its allies winning 47 seats, a comfortable majority, in the 81-seat Jharkhand Assembly and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) coming second with 14 seats. Congress and its alliance will be third with seven seats, predict exit polls.
Top leaders of the BJP and Congress had campaigned extensively in the state, where lack of development and corruption were the key election issues. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said while campaigning that Jharkhand has enormous potential to become the number one state in the country and batted for a majority government. (Read more:
Over 70 Per Cent Polling in Final Phase of Jharkhand Elections)
But Chief Minister Hemant Soren did not believe the BJP will get a majority in the state. "I am confident of victory. How will the BJP get a majority as they are claiming? There is no question of them gaining a victory. The victory will be of the people," he said during the voting in the final phase of polling on Saturday. In the 2009 assembly polls, the JMM had won nine seats while the BJP won two seats.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had urged the people of Jharkhand that if he is voted to power, the Congress would increase the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly to 140 seats.
In Jammu and Kashmir, exit polls show that BJP may fall short of it Mission-44 target winning 24 seats and the People's Democratic Party emerging as the single largest party with 36 seats in the 87-seat Assembly. The state registered its highest voter turn-out in assembly elections in the last 25 years with an estimated 65 per cent of voters casting their votes. (Read more:
Highest Voter Turnout in 25 Years in Jammu and Kashmir)
The BJP has ruled out a post-poll alliance with any regional party in Jammu and Kashmir. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the state to attend an election rally last week, said, "There is immense enthusiasm across all parts of J&K for the BJP... Dynastic politics can never become the voice of people."
The previous assembly elections of 2008 and 2002 had witnessed 61.42 per cent and 43.09 per cent respectively.
The five-phase election began on November 25 and ended on December 20. The counting of votes will take place on December 23.