* The exit polls commissioned by various news channels to get a sense of the shape of the next government at the Centre predicted a badly fractured mandate, with the Congress-led UPA shown holding a slight edge over the BJP-led NDA.
* Bookies bet on Congress win in election.
* Prakash Karat says left will not allow BJP to form government and it says its ready for a congress lead minority government.
* J Jayalalitha, a key Third Front partner, said in Chennai: "There are feelers from many places. I am not responding to them now. Everything depends on the results. If the results are as expected, then I will go to Delhi."
* The desperate hunt for allies led Congress to “touch base” with recently estranged partner Samajwadi Party as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other top Congress leaders, who have taken charge of the numbers mobilisation, sought a meeting with the SP leadership.
