BJP-led NDA will surpass exit poll projections: Patel

Elated by some of the exit polls that have forecast a majority for the BJP-led NDA, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel on Monday said the saffron party will get more number of seats than predicted.

He claimed that from the day the general elections were announced, people made up their mind to reinstate Narendra Modi as the country's prime minister.

"Under Modi, the country got the strongest-ever government in 2014. And, people had already decided that they want to hand over the reins to the Modi government for another five years. This is being reflected in all the major exit poll projections," Patel told reporters in Gandhinagar.

He said while campaign for the Lok Sabha polls across the country, he and other BJP leaders knew that their party and its allies will certainly win.

"I am confident that the BJP and NDA will get more seats than what is being forecast in the exit polls. Many exit polls even suggested that the NDA's tally would surpass the existing numbers in the Lok Sabha," Patel said.

Elections to 542 seats of the 543-member Lok Sabha ended Sunday and the counting of votes is slated for Thursday.

Most exit polls have forecast another term for Prime Minister Modi, with some of them projecting that the BJP-led NDA would get over 300 seats to comfortably cross the majority mark of 272 in the Lok Sabha.

However, Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda questioned the credibility of such predictions and claimed his party will win 10 out of the total 26 seats in the state.

"The exit polls never give an accurate picture. The results of 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls proved that the exit poll projections can not be trusted. This time, too, results will prove that exit polls were wrong," he said.

Chavda said he was confident that the Congress-led UPA will form the next government.

"In Gujarat, the Congress will win at least 10 seats," he told reporters in Vadodara.