Uttarakhand Assembly Elections Exit Polls: BJP likely to claim majority

New Delhi : The BJP was projected to win Uttarakhand assembly polls by various exit polls on Thursday with projections ranging from 35 to 53 seats for the party in the 70-member house.

The News 24-Today's Chanakya poll gave the Bharatiya Janata Party 53 seats, the ruling Congress 15 and others two in the hill state.

India Today-Axis poll predicted that BJP would get 46-53 seats, the Congress 12-21, and others 2-6 seats.

India News-MRC exit poll projected 38 seats for the BJP, 30 for the Congress, two for others. 

India TV-Cvoter predicted that both the BJP and the Congress had a similar chance at forming the government in the state and projected 29-35 seats for both parties each. It projected two to nine seats for others. 

The poll of polls done by CNN-News18 projected the BJP to be getting 38 seats, the Congress 26 and others six, and a similar exercise by NDTV projected the BJP getting 43 seats and the Congress 23 in the hill state.

Exit polls were telecast on Thursday evening after the balloting ended on a seat each in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which polls were earlier countermanded following deaths of candidates. 

Five states -- Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa and Manipur -- witnessed assembly polls in February-March. The counting of votes will take place on Saturday.