Welcome to our live coverage of the exit polls at the culmination of all seven phases of polling for the Lok Sabha elections. A quick recap of today: voting took place in 59 constituencies today across Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, and one in Chandigarh. The Election Commission set the voter turnout for today at 60.21 per cent.

9.25 pm

On Times Now, Tehseen Poonawala sticks his neck out by saying the BJP will not get more than 180 seats. Navika Kumar responds with a sarcastic, “Ha ha.”

8.45 pm

Rajdeep Sardesai has finally revealed the “big numbers” that Rahul Kanwal has been building up. UP seat shares are on the screen with appropriate animated figurines.

The #IndiaTodayAxisPoll projects a whopping 62-68 to the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Kanwal points out that if these numbers are wrong, both him and Rajdeep will have to head for Kedarnath.

8.39 pm

On Republic, Arnab Goswami asks BJP leader Himanta Biswas Sarma if he’s coming to New Delhi after the results on May 23 to be part of the government. Goswami calls him “ubharate hue sitaare”, a rising star of the BJP.

8.37 pm

Modi is now dancing on a bus in the India Today studio. Rahul Kanwal says the seat-wise tally will be revealed soon.

8.20 pm

Congress national spokesperson Sanjay Jha calls the exit polls “laughable” and “farcical”. He says it’s “UPA>NDA when the ‘real counting’ happens”.

8.18 pm

Yashwant Deshmukh is laying down an alternative strategy which the Congress should have followed. “They should have gone to Mayawati and made an alliance in UP. At the same time, they should have offered minister positions in different state governments. Same should have been done with Mamata.”

8.15 pm

Rahul Kanwal reminds Rajdeep Sardesai of how Rahul Gandhi once spoke of his plan for the next 25-30 years. Rajdeep says, “In 25 years, we are all dead. I certainly am.”

8.13 pm

On Aaj Tak, Anjana Om Kashyap asks a BJP spokesperson if the party is winning because of “bijli, choolha or rashtravaad”. Meanwhile, an animation shows PM Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi holding paints in a segment promoted by Nerolac Paints. In the next five minutes, the PM and Gandhi ride on horses to showcase poll numbers.

8.07 pm

Sagarika Ghosh just coined a new term on NDTV. “It seems like a Tsu-NaMo this time.” Sreenivasan Jain seems thoroughly amused.

8.05 pm

Much hilarity happening on NDTV India where panelists keep bringing up “aam ki peti” and their love for mangoes from time to time. NDTV India has also included a poll by Sakshi TV which shows 242 for NDA.

7.54 pm

Pradeep Gupta, Chairman and MD of the #AxisMyIndia poll explains why BJP will grab the Ladakh seat: “50 per cent of the population there is Baudh, which is Hindu”.

7.50 pm

CNN-News18 says BJP is projected to sweep big states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and so on. Anchor Bhupendra Chaubey makes it clear the NDA will sweep the 2019 general elections.

7.46 pm

News Nation has a manly manel discussing how “nationalism” might have triumphed over “development” this election.

7.38 pm

Reacting to the exit polls, TMC’s Derek O’Brien asks if the “Delhi media who masquerade as ‘national media'” have lost their credentials and credibility.

He’s backed up by Mamata Banerjee, who blames EVMs for this “exit polls gossip”.

7.33 pm

On Mirror Now, panelists are discussing Maharashtra exit polls. One observation is that the Raj Thackeray rallies might not have shown any significant effect.

7.31 pm

Republic gives itself a pat on the back for “setting the agenda for the polls” with its news breaks.

7.30 pm

Saying every exit poll can’t be wrong, Omar Abdullah says it’s time to switch off the TV and log off social media.

7.25 pm

India Today has parachuted PM Modi into the Congress and Rahul Gandhi into the BJP. “So we’ve got those graphics wrong,” says Rahul Kanwal.

7.21 pm

Amar Singh has joined the panel on Times Now. He’s comparing the mood created by the Pulwama attack to a cricket match between India and Pakistan. “When Pakistan is losing, India claps. It’s the same situation this election,” he said.

7.20 pm

Times Now is projecting 20 seats to NDA in West Bengal and 20 seats to UPA. Rahul Shivshankar is trying very hard to convince people that alliances are a bad idea. “Jod tod nahi chalta hai”. He is urging panelists to concede that Mahagathbandhan was a bad move.

According to the #IndiaTodayAxisPoll, the BJP is sweeping West India, that is in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Goa. “What we’re seeing here is the rewriting of the electoral history of India,” says Rahul Kanwal. Relax, Mr Kanwal. This is just an exit poll.

7.07 pm

Times Now has brought out a blue Iron Man who is doing virtual stunts in the studio while showing numbers. According to them, BJP will get more seats than BJD in Odisha this time.

7.05 pm

ABP has released its figures for Uttar Pradesh and Maharastra. The BJP-Shiv Sena combine is ahead in Maharashtra with 34 seats, while the Congress is projected to get 14 seats. In Uttar Pradesh, it’s advantage Mahagathbandhan with 56 seats. The ABP Exit Polls gives the BJP 22 out of 80 seats in the state, while the Congress gets a mere 2 seats.

7.02 pm

The NewsX-My Neta exit poll is predicting 242 for NDA and 162 for UPA.

7 pm

On Twitter, Hindustan Times has a cheeky little “health warning” with its exit poll updates, saying “exit polls often get it wrong”.

6.57 pm

On Times Now, one panelist has now whipped out an old-school blackboard to write down his predictions. Chalking down his thoughts, quite literally.

6.55 pm

Times Now has moving cameras in a circular room. The designated pollster is going from panelist to panelist, explaining the numbers and getting a reaction out of them.

On NDTV, which is doing a “poll of polls”, Sreenivasan Jain says based on the numbers they’re seeing so far, “it looks like it’s going to be a repeat of the Modi Sarkar of 2014”.

6.50 pm

Here’s how it looks so far.

6.44 pm

After assessing the India Today-Axis MyIndia exit polls in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, Rajdeep Sardesai says Modi’s magic isn’t working south of the Vindhyas and the NDA is in for “southern discomfort”. He says if the elections were only in the south of India, “Rahul Gandhi would be prime minister”.

6.42 pm

Interesting how Republic is showing only NDA and UPA combined numbers but not individual BJP and INC numbers. The pollsters are talking about how Congress will get only 70-80 seats though.

6.38 pm

On Republic, second poll by “Jan Ki Baat poll” is showing more numbers than C-Voter. Arnab has declared yet again that Narendra Modi is going to be the PM.

6.37 pm

The CNN News18-IPSOS exit poll, which, as we’re constantly reminded by Bhupendra Chaubey, “got Brexit and 2016 American elections right”, has handed 38-42 seats to the NDA, 44-46 to other parties and only 4-7 seats to the UPA.

6.34 pm

Within two minutes of the exit poll numbers coming up, Arnab has announced in Hindi and English that Narendra Modi is going to be the next Prime Minister.

6.33 pm

Times Now-VMR projects 306 to the NDA, 132 to the UPA and 104 to others.

6.30 pm

On Republic, the panelists are arriving directly into the studio in shiny cars. Arnab is rushing to personally welcome them. Shazia Ilmi is in the house!

6.29 pm

India Today‘s Rajdeep Sardesai clearly loves his cricket analogies. So far he has described the final 20 minutes leading the exit poll declaration as “Twenty 20” and the final few minutes as “powerplay”. Clearly someone’s in good form.

6.28 pm

Arnab is releasing Yashwant Deshmukh onto the world. “You speak Yashwant ji! People will try to stop you but you speak!”

Zee News is conducting its Maha Exit Polls inside a mock Parliament. The ticker on the channel asks if PM Modi will return to power. The battle according to Zee News is clearly between Nationalism and Break India Gang, or as the channel puts it, “Rashtravaad Vs Tukde Tukde Gang”. No surprises there.

6.25 pm

On Republic TV, Arnab Goswami is already stalking behind his panelists, inciting them to scream who will be the next Prime Minister. Random shouts of “Woh pappu hai” can be heard.

6.15 pm

CNN-News18 kicked off with their anchor Anand Narasimhan traveling in a helicopter to give viewers the latest updates.