As Congress faces rout, BJP led NDA set to rule over 58% of country's population

NEW DELHI: With exit polls indicating BJP's emergence as the single largest party in Uttar Pradesh and a clear majority in Uttarakhand, the NDA led by the saffron party is now set to rule about 58 per cent of the country. Exit polls today predicted a hung assembly in the key Hindi heartland state where BJP would emerge as the largest single party, winning anywhere between 164 and 210 of the 403 seats. They have predicted victory for BJP in Uttarakhand and Goa. BJP will single handedly rule over 52.71 per cent of the total population of 11 states while the NDA, the coliation led by the saffron party will have control over 58 percent of the country. The Congress party, which faced its worst political debacle across the country in 2014 General Election, is dying a slow death. It is clear that as a national force Congress is comatose if not dead. Its brand is severely damaged and carries very little that is positive. After being evicted from power in Delhi by the 'Modi wave', Congress has lost a string of states like Maharashtra, Haryana, Kerala, Assam, J&K and Jharkhand. It has also failed to put up a decent tally in recently help panchayat and municipal polls. The grand old party suffered a rout in Maharashtra Civic Polls and in Odisha Panchayat polls. Amid the gloom, the sole redeeming feature for Congress is Punjab where it can come back to power after a hiatus of 10 years as per exit polls prediction.