With most of the exit polls indicating a fifth consecutive term for Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal in Odisha and substantial gains for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha poll, both the rival parties on Monday refused to accept the predictions, claiming the results on May 23 will be different.

Majority of the exit polls have projected that the BJP would win more than half of the total 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha and the BJD getting reduced to single digit.

The prediction throws a major surprise as in 2014, the BJD had bagged 20 LS seats in the State while the BJP had one seat — of Union Minister Jual Oram — in its kitty.

In the Assembly election, Mr. Patanik’s party is ahead as per the exit polls forecast.

Last time, the BJD had secured 117 seats in the 147-member Odisha Assembly. The BJP could win 10 seats while the Congress had 16 MLAs.

BJP State unit president Basant Panda and Union Minister Jual Oram claimed that their party will form the next government in Odisha by securing more than 70 of the 147 seats in the Assembly.

“We are confident that the BJP will form government both at the Centre and in Odisha. Our own assessment shows BJP will win more than 300 Lok Sabha seats, while over 70 party candidates will register victory in Odisha Assembly polls,” Mr. Oram said.

“A strong Modi wave was sweeping across the country and the voters were highly impressed with the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” both Mr. Panda and Mr. Oram said.

‘Will improve tally’

The State’s main Opposition party — the Congress — claimed that its performance this time will be much better than in the 2014 election. Dismissing these predictions, BJD spokesperson and Rajya Sabha Member P.K. Deb said, “We are certain that the BJD will secure two-third majority in the Assembly and repeat its last time performance in the Lok Sabha.”