New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS): Exit polls in four states, which were rubbished by the Congress, proved right Sunday with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registering massive victories in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and a comfortable win in Chhattisgarh while Delhi came up with a hung house.
The BJP ended with a score of 4-0.
The assembly results are being seen as a semi-final ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and could impact the prospects of the two national parties, especially the ruling Congress, grappling with the anti-incumbency of two terms at the Centre in Delhi.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi denied such a link.
"Issues are slightly different in state and national elections," Sonia said after the results came in Sunday.
"This result calls for deep introspection," she said.
The results will certainly boost the prospects of BJP's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi, who campaigned energetically in all four states.
"His popularity helped the party," a beaming BJP chief Rajnath Singh said.
The results could mean a further setback for Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and raise a question mark over the vote-drawing abilities of the Gandhi family.
"The people have given us a message. We have noted it in our hearts and minds," Rahul said after the results.
Though it was a hung house in Delhi as per the exit polls, debutant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), expected to get between 15 and 18 seats, stunned everyone with an amazing 27.
While the BJP got 31 seats in Delhi, the Congress, ruling the national capital for the past 15 years, was routed with just nine seats. Leads available for the other states showed the BJP won 48 of the 90 seats in Chhattisgarh with Congress at 40.
In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP retained power for a third term under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and won an impresive 161 of the 230 seats. The Congress is way behind at 61.
In Rajasthan, the BJP under former chief minister Vasundhara Raje snatched power from incumbent Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, triumphing in 160 seats of the total 200 with Congress getting only 22.
Exit poll projections by India TV-CVoter Dec 4, the last day of the polls in the five states, including Mizoram, predicted that the BJP would retain Madhya Pradesh with a massive mandate and wrest Rajasthan from the Congress, while falling short of a majority in Chhattisgarh. Delhi and Mizoram would see hung assemblies, it said.
The ABP News-Neilsen exit poll predicted a win for the BJP in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. It did not give the outcome of surveys in the other states.
The CNN-IBN-The Week survey said the BJP will win in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
A post-poll survey by CNN-IBN and The Week Dec 6 for Delhi predicted that the BJP might scrape through to a majority, winning between 32 and 42 seats, while the AAP would make a "stunning debut".
The CNN-IBN-The Week study projected massive losses for the ruling Congress in Delhi.
It gave the AAP between 13 and 21 seats and the Congress between nine and 17 seats.
The polls in the five states were held November-December.
Mizoram's results will be out Dec 9.