New Delhi: In an overwhelming vote for stability, Congress and its UPA allies on Saturday scored a stunning win in the Lok Sabha polls humbling BJP and the Left parties to race close to an absolute majority.
The Congress-led UPA is alll set to to win about 257 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha in the General Elections 2009.
UPA thus needs about 12 seats to cross the half-way mark, a task that it can easily achieve without having to seek the support from the troublesome Left parties who have lost more than half their strength and are projected to win only 24 seats.
For the BJP and its allies in the NDA, the results have come as a rude shock prompting the grouping's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani to offer to step down as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The offer was turned down by his party.
The NDA is projected to win 164 seats with the BJP likely to get about 116 which is 22 less than 138 won by the party in the 2004 elections.
Congress party's unexpected grand showing was largely based on about 20 seats in UP, 29 in Andhra, 19 in Rajasthan, 15 in Kerala, 17 in Maharashtra, 11 in Madhya Pradesh besides it doing well along with its allies DMK in Tamil Nadu (27 seats) and Trinamool Congress in West Bengal (19).