Vasundhara Raje, Raman Singh confident of retaining power

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Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Sunday dismissed the prospects of her government being ousted in the state by the Congress Party, as a number of recently-conducted exit polls have indicated.

Addressing the media following a core committee meeting of the BJP's Rajasthan unit, Raje said, "The results will be there on the 11th, BJP is going to make the government. I'm very confident (of winning)".

The chief minister further deflected questions regarding her expectations about the number of seats her party will secure, saying, "I told you it's going to be a majority".

Exit polls conducted by a number of news channels on Friday indicated a clear majority for the Congress in Rajasthan, where voting was conducted on December 7. Times Now-CNX predicted the Congress prevailing in 105 seats in the 200-member Assembly and 85 being bagged by the BJP. India Today-Axis My India indicated 119 to 141 seats for the Congress and 55 to 72 for the BJP.

Republic-C Voter, on the other hand, predicted a closer outcome, as it gave 81-101 seats to the Congress and 83-103 to the BJP. 101 seats are needed to establish a majority in the Rajasthan state assembly.

Meanwhile, reacting to the forecasts made in the exit polls for the fate of the 90-seat Chhattisgarh assembly, Chief Minister Raman Singh rejected the possibility of a hung assembly. "Situation of a hung assembly will not happen. The BJP will form the government with a majority. I am confident that BJP will form the government for the fourth time without anyone's support," the Chhattisgarh chief minister said.

The exit polls for the state, where voting was conducted over two phases on November 12 and November 20, projected mixed results, with Times Now-CNX and India TV predicting that the BJP will retain power. However, Republic-C Voter, News Nation and News 24 were among those predicting a change in the state's ruling party.

Results for the polling conducted in all five states, (Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram) will be declared on December 11.