Lok Sabha elections: 1998 or 1996? BJP, state parties begin outreach

The BJP is conscious that the NDA, the coalition of 40 parties it leads, might fall short of the majority mark

Elections to 424 seats in five phases are complete. Polling to only 118 seats is left, most of which are in states with multi-phase polling, which has helped the task of assessing eventual results easier.

While the Election Commission (EC) has banned putting in public domain exit poll data, most political parties have access to their internal surveys as well as such data, which has since the completion of the fifth phase of polling on Monday, spurred potential political alignments.

Two definite strands have emerged. One has a resonance to 1998, when the BJP, with 182 seats, formed a coalition