NDA will get 218 seats, says BJP

With several exit polls showing the United Progressive Alliance having an edge over the National Democratic Alliance, the BJP today labelled the surveys as "biased" and said that once the counting was over, it would emerge as the single largest party and NDA as the biggest pre-poll alliance.

"We respect their right to conduct surveys but there is a crisis of confidence ... a question of trust quotient... there are surveys and there are surveys," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

Pointing out that most such surveys had been completely wrong in the past, Prasad said, "These same exit polls were showing Atal Bihari Vajpayee government coming back to power in 2004, showing Narendra Modi losing in Gujarat and BJP losing in Himachal Pradesh in 2007 and Ajit Jogi forming the government in Chhattisgarh in 2008."

He said the exit polls had also ruled out a BJP government in Karnataka in 2008.

"We have also done our surveys and BJP will get 166 seats and with our allies we will reach 218," he said, adding, "The NDA is emerging as the most credible pre-poll alliance and the biggest one without doubt and BJP without doubt is emerging as the single largest party."

Claiming that the surveys done for the party were nearer to the truth, Prasad said the company hired by the BJP was "not our captive agency".