The grand alliance between the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is set to pull down the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, exit polls showed on Sunday.

The exit polls differed on the number of seats the grand alliance, NDA and the Congress party would win, but the saffron party appears to be heading for a setback compared to its performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP and its ally Apna Dal (S) won 73 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2014, helping the party form a government at the Centre with a comfortable majority.

The Nielson/ABP News exit poll predicted the grand alliance of SP, BSP and RLD will win almost 56 seats and the BJP 22.

The C-Voter/Republic Exit poll touted the grand alliance to get 40 seats compared to 38 by the saffron outfit. The Jan Ki Baat exit poll projected the grand alliance will win 24 seats and the BJP 53, while giving Congress 3 seats. (See table)

While, BSP and SP had contested 38 and 37 seats respectively, their partner RLD had fought three seats in Western UP.

All exit polls were unanimous that Congress, which was hoping for a revival of sorts in UP, especially after deploying Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as the party general secretary in charge of Eastern UP, is heading for another rout. The party was projected to win only two seats, according to C-Voter and Nielson. Jan Ki Baat gave the Congress three seats.

If the exit polls hold true even after votes are counted on May 23, the SP and BSP would get a new lease of life in UP and offer them bargaining power in the state and national politics ahead of the crucial 2022 UP elections.

However, the two allies could also bicker too if there is big difference between the number of seats won by them individually.