New Delhi, May 20 (IANS): The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is expected to return to power at the Centre for a second consecutive term with a clear majority, according to the News18-IPSOS exit poll.

Out of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats, the NDA is likely to win 336, News18-IPSOS projected.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is projected to cross the majority mark on its own by clinching 276 seats, while its allies adding up the remaining 60 seats.

The News18-IPSOS exit poll predicted continuation of the unimpressive performance of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which is expected to bag 82 seats, while the others are likely to get 124 seats.

The Congress alone is likely to get just 46 seats, improving its 2014 performance just by 2 seats.

If the projections hold true, it will be the first time in 48 years that a majority government is re-elected with a majority.

The survey indicates that the UPA's landslide will demolish the caste calculations of the SP-BSP-RLD combine in Uttar Pradesh, while in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress would just about manage to hold on to its terrain despite decent gains by the BJP.

The exit poll results indicate that Odisha could yield significant results to the BJP, which is poised to sweep the heartland states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Even in Karnataka, the BJP is set to sweep the polls with nearly 23 seats.

The News18-IPSOS exit poll was conducted among 1,21,542 voters from 199 parliamentary constituencies. "Within parliamentary constituencies, 796 Assembly constituencies were selected, and then 4,776 individual polling stations were picked for conducting interviews," News18-IPSOS said.