New Delhi: Mr Modi had made national security and fighting terror one of his key campaign points to blunt Opposition attacks on his handling of the economy. The Prime Minister also attempted to paint the Congress as corrupt and run down effort by Opposition parties to consolidate votes against the ruling NDA, calling them "power hungry".
An election exit poll is a poll of voters taken immediately after they exit the polling stations. The survey was conducted after each round of voting starting from the first on 11 April. The EC, however, did not allow the exit poll outcome to be released till the last vote was cast in the seventh phase.
Mr Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah had declared that the BJP would win a clear majority on its own with 300-plus seats. The Congress had, off and on, made a similar claim of a majority but as the elections came close to the finishing line, Mr Gandhi spoke about a majority for the "secular formation".
