The Bhartiya Janta Party appears to be set to retain power with a bigger mandate in Maharashtra, where it is in an alliance with the Shiv Sena. Results of exit polls, conducted immediately after voters leave polling stations, were out minutes after voting ended at 6 pm.

The India Today-Axis exit poll projected 166-194 seats for the BJP-Shiv Sena combine in the 288-member assembly and 72-90 for the opposition Congress-NCP alliance.

The exit poll by News18-IPSOS gave the BJP a near-majority on its own by predicting a whopping 142 seats for the party and 102 for its ally Shiv Sena.

The Congress and NCP, who together ruled Maharashtra for 15 years, are projected to bag just 17 and 22 seats, respectively.Times Now predicted 230 and 48 seats respectively while the ABP-C Voter predicted 210 seats for the BJP-Shiv Sena and 63 for the Congress-NCP.The poll results will be out on October 24. The simple majority mark in the state is 145.