Exit Polls Predict BJP Lead In Odisha As Regional Powerhouse BJD Lags
Exit polls suggest the BJP-NDA can win 15 of Odisha's 21 seats and confine Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal, once the unquestioned choice of the people, to the margins. Political analyst Manisha Priyam decodes why despite Naveen Patnaik's massive regional influence, he can not influence national politics and why BJP has been able to make inroads in a non-Hindi heartland state.
The exit polls predict a historic third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Only one, though, has carried the NDA across its dream score of 400 of 543 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP, too, has been placed far short of its 370-seat target. The INDIA bloc, five exit polls predicted, will fall massively short of the 285 seats predicted by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge this evening.
An aggregate of seven exit polls indicates that the NDA will get 361 seats, the INDIA bloc will get 145 seats. The BJP's individual score will be 311 seats and the Congress 63, up from the 52 seats it won in the last general election.
