Much-watched Assembly poll results in 5 states today

Hectic political parleys marked the eve of counting of votes for five state assemblies, billed as semi-finals before the 2019 national polls, with the Congress asserting that the mandate from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram on Tuesday would send a "clear message" against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

Rejecting the exit-poll results, most of which have forecast gains for Congress in at least four states including a clear majority in Rajasthan, the BJP leaders said the final results should be awaited even as they sought to de-link the state polls from the next year's Lok Sabha elections.

In Telangana, the Congress-led alliance appeared upbeat that it would get the mandate to dislodge KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known as, and form the next government. It also told Governor ESL Narasimhan that it should be treated as a single entity in the event of no party getting a clear majority.

For Madhya Pradesh, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath exuded confidence that his party would get at least 140 seats to form a majority government.

Counting of votes for the five state assemblies would begin at 8 am on Tuesday and a clear trend is likely to emerge by afternoon.

Exit polls have mostly forecast a tight-race between the ruling BJP and the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and neighbouring Chhattisgarh, while many of them have given a clear majority to the Congress against the ruling BJP in Rajasthan.

For Telangana, exit polls have been divided between the TRS and the Congressled opposition alliance. Same is the case for Mizoram where the ruling Congress is being challenged by its arch-rival in the state, Mizo National Front, while the BJP is also separately in fray.