New Delhi, June 1 (IANS): In what may be a major breakthrough for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the southern states, Kerala is set to witness the party winning seats for the first time ever, besides scoring victory in Tamil Nadu after a long gap, as per the projections of the Axis My India Exit Polls.

According to Axis My India Exit Polls, the BJP is expected to win 2-3 seats each in Tamil Nadu and Kerala out of the 39 and 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in the respective states.

The INDIA bloc, though, is projected to maintain its dominant position in both the states.

In Tamil Nadu, the DMK-Congress alliance is seen gaining a clear majority with 33-37 seats, while in Kerala, the UDF is projected to win 17-18 seats.

The BJP making inroads in Tamil Nadu and Kerala shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 'South Push' and high-pitched campaigning yielding results for the party for the first time.

Though the BJP is projected to win a small number of seats, its increased vote share shows the scale and intensity of the party’s penetration in both the southern states.

In Tamil Nadu, the BJP is projected to get 14 per cent of votes, while the Congress and DMK together are seen bagging about 36 per cent vote share.

In Kerala, the BJP’s 27 per cent vote share is good enough to challenge the UDF's vote share of 41 per cent.

Karnataka, which is currently ruled by the Congress, is projected to give clear gains to the BJP with a decisive vote share of 55 per cent. The INDIA bloc is seen lagging at 44 per cent.

In terms of seats, this would translate into 23-25 seats for the BJP and 3-5 seats for the INDIA bloc.

For the unversed, the BJP has consistently drawn a blank in Kerala, while it won a few seats in Tamil Nadu during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.