Advani will be next prime minister: BJP

NEW DELHI: Disregarding exit poll findings, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asserted Thursday that its leader L.K. Advani will be the country's next prime minister.

"After the 16th, Advani will become the prime minister of India," BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad told the media, referring to Saturday when votes polled in the Lok Sabha election will be counted.

He insisted that the BJP would emerge as the single largest party in the 545-seat Lok Sabha and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) "will be the largest pre-poll alliance".

He discounted Wednesday's exit polls that put the Congress marginally ahead of the BJP in the five-phase elections.