New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS): Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi has called a meeting of senior party leaders on Friday after the results of Assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana are out.

All party general secretaries and state incharges are likely to be present in the meeting. It is scheduled to take stock of the situation in the aftermath of the results.

Haryana has 90 members in its Assembly and Maharashtra has 288 members.

The party hopes that it will not do as badly as predicted in the exit polls. But the Congress feedback is that it is giving a tough fight in Haryana and will come second in Maharashtra, said a source.

The Congress has so far rejected the exit polls which have shown a landslide win for the BJP.

The Congress leadership believes that though BJP contested elections on Article 370 and other issues, the ground situation is different as people have voted on local issues and along caste lines. A party leader said that the voting in rural areas shows a pattern as urban areas have seen less voting compared to rural areas.

Congress spokesperson Meem Afzal said the party is going to make a comeback in both the states and that "we do not believe in the exit polls."

The Congress had lost power in both the states in 2014. The party is hoping for the anti-incumbency factor as well as farmers' distress and unemployment.

Former party chief Rahul Gandhi had addressed lesser number of meetings in both states but he was able to convey a message on the economic slowdown, said a party leader.