The exit polls have gone wrong yet again in India. While all the surveys had predicted an edge for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), they also said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would be a close second. But as results came in on Saturday, the gap between the two was expected to be a nearly 100 seats.

Not just the Centres’ predictions went wrong, even the state predictions have gone wrong with the UPA allies contributing to the big success of the Congress giving Prime Minister Manmohan Singh another chance to form a stable government.

In Tamil Nadu, popular schemes like colour TV sets, 1 kg rice for Re 1 and loan waiver for farmers seemed to have worked wonders for ruling DMK which put up an impressive show in Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu defeating an alliance led by its rival AIADMK which had made Tamil Eelam an election issue. The DMK bagged 18 of the 21 seats it had contested.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad on Saturday admitted that breaking away from the Congress led UPA was the “biggest mistake” that resulted in his party’s “heavy” defeat in Bihar. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad suffered a humiliating defeat in Patliputra Lok Sabha constituency by his friend-turned-foe Ranjan Prasad Yadav, but salvaged some pride by trouncing BJP rival Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Saran.

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) President Ramvilas Paswan, who was in the Union Cabinet in all governments since 1996, suffered a shock defeat in Hajipur. Paswan had represented this seat seven times in 1977, 1980, 1989, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004.

The bulk of seats in the Congress-led UPA’s stunning victory came mostly from the states where the Third Front partners had expected to do well and play kingmakers.

The exit polls had been wide off the mark even in the 2004 elections. Nearly all of them predicted an NDA victory by a wide margin, but the Bharatiya Janata Party-led grouping lost to a rejuvenated Congress.