Two exit polls, those done by India Today - Axis and by News 24 - Today’s Chanakya are projecting a clear majority for the Bhartiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh. These surveys say the BJP is likely to deliver its best performance ever in assembly elections in India’s largest state. These two surveys take the BJP’s projected performance, as averaged over the findings of five exit polls, across the halfway mark of 202 seats needed to form the next government in Lucknow.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a Member of Parliament from Varanasi in eastern Uttar Pradesh, and campaigned extensively through the 7-phase election process which ended on March 8. Counting for Uttar Pradesh’s 403 assembly constituencies and four other state elections will be conducted on Saturday March 11.