Updated

New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS): Various exit polls have predicted the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal alliance to form the government in Jharkhand where the fifth and final phase of polling concluded on Friday.

India Today-Axis My India has claimed that the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance will get 38 to 50 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will get around 22-32 seats.

According to the Kashish News exit poll, JMM-Congress-RJD will get around 37-49 seats while the BJP will get 25-30 seats.

Jharkhand is headed for a hung assembly, according to IANS-CVoter-ABP Exit Poll for the 2019 Assembly Election.

According to the exit poll, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress-RJD alliance is slated to get 35 seats in the 81-member house while the Bharatiya Janata Party is expected to get 32. The range for the JMM-led alliance is expected to be somewhere between 31 to 39 seats while the BJP is expected to get 28 to 36 seats.

The BJP will find it difficult to form the government and its estranged ally, All Jharkhand Students Union chief Sudesh Mahto and former Chief Minister and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha chief Babulal Marandi can emerge as kingmakers in a hung assembly.

While the JMM-Congress alliance will have less work to reach the majority mark, for the BJP, it is a tougher ask, according to the exit poll.

In all the polls, Babulal Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) has emerged as the main gainer along with Sudesh Mahto-led All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU).

Smaller parties like the AJSU are tipped to get 3-7 seats and Marandi's JVM likely to get 1-4 seats, according to the IANS-CVoter-ABP Exit Poll. In a hung assembly scenario, these parties' role will be key.

Mahto's AJSU, which had won 5 seats in the last Assembly polls, had exited the NDA just before the Assembly elections over seat-sharing. However, what may appear to be a reason for the BJP to cheer is Mahto, in spite of his bitter divorce from the BJP, had said he is not closed to do business with the saffron party in future.