New Delhi, Mar 7 (IANS): Goa is likely to witness a hung Assembly with ruling BJP and Congress going neck-to-neck, as per the ABP C-Voter Exit Poll.

The fate of the state will depend on the smaller parties like the Trinamool-MGP combine and Independents, who can emerge as the kingmaker in the 40-member Goa Assembly.

Anticipating the results, the Congress has said that it will choose a legislative party leader within minutes of the announcement of election results on March 10 and stake claim to form the government.

The party's in-charge for Goa, Dinesh Gundu Rao, said the party will not repeat its mistake of 2017, when the party could not decide on a CM face and the BJP went on to form the government taking advantage of the delay by Congress to stake claim despite emerging as the single-largest party.

According to ABP C-Voter Exit Poll, the BJP and the Congress are very close to each other, but both short of the majority mark. The Congress is projected to win 14 seats, three less than its tally of 2017, while BJP is slated to win 15 seats, a gain of two seats from its 2017 tally.

The AAP is expected to win three seats (0 in 2017), while the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), which fought the polls in alliance with Trinamool Congress, is projected to win seven seats, a gain of four seats compared to its 2017 tally.

Rao said, "We will take decisions at the right time. There will be no delay and as soon as the results are out, we will stake claim and as per the Constitution. I don't see any reason for anything going wrong this time."

"What happened in 2017 will not happen this time. We are together, we are prepared. We won't allow the repetition of what happened in 2017. This time the Congress will form the government and there will is no scope for anything else to happen," he said.

The Congress is in alliance with the Goa Forward party, which contested three seats.