Congress, AAP in close race in Punjab: Exit polls

Punjab was poised for a tight finish between Congress and Aam Aadmi Party in the assembly polls with two exit polls giving the same number of seats to the two parties.

In two other exit polls, Congress was ahead in one and AAP in the other, but all the polls predicted that the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance was headed for a huge drubbing in the 117-member assembly.

The India Today-Axis poll predicted Congress getting 62-71 seats and AAP getting 42-51 seats. It said SAD-BJP alliance was likely to get between four-seven seats and others two.

The India News-MRC poll predicted AAP and Congress getting 55 seats each and SAD-BJP getting seven seats. The News 24-Today's Chanakya poll predicted Congress and AAP getting 54 each and SAD-BJP nine.

The India TV-Cvoter predicted 59-67 seats for Aam Aadmi Party, 41-49 for Congress and 5-13 for SAD-BJP.

The poll of polls by CNN-News18 gave an edge to AAP by predicting that it wll win 57 seats against 53 won by the Congress. It predicted that SAD-BJP could win seven seats.

The NDTV poll of exit polls gave Congress 55 seats against 54 to AAP and seven to SAD-BJP.

The results of last month's assembly polls in Punjab will be declared on March 11.

SAD-BJP has been in power in the state for the last 10 years, while the AAP contested assembly elections in the state for the first time.

--IANS

ps/vd