MUMBAI - A day after polling for the Maharashtra assembly elections, leaders of the ruling Democratic Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena combine Wednesday expressed “confidence” of forming the next state government.

Discarding the post-poll projections by some private television channels as “not the ultimate decision”, the Shiv Sena said that it was the decision of the people that finally matters.

“They (the TV channels) are doing their job sincerely. However, even we have got feedback from our own grassroots channels which indicates that the Sena-BJP alliance will be voted to power,” Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe told IANS.

On the other hand, the Congress feels confident of getting a majority along with its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

“We easily expect to get a simple majority - 145 of the total 288 seats. So, we can form the government independently,” said state Congress president Manikrao Thakre.

As per a post-poll projection by IBN-Lokmat and CNN-IBN released Tuesday evening, the ruling Congress-led Democratic Front combine could secure 135-145 seats, sufficient to form a government.

The saffron opposition alliance could bag between 105-115 seats, the projection showed, falling way below the required figure in the numbers game.

It further said that Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) could bag 8-12 seats and the other parties and independents could get 25-35 seats.

The Congress is expected to emerge as the single largest party (75-85 seats), followed by the NCP and Sena (both, 55-65 seats), and BJP (45-55 seats).

In the 2004 elections, the Democratic Front had bagged 139 seats while in 1999, it had secured 151.

The Shiv Sena-BJP had bagged 119 and 136 seats respectively in 2004 and 1999 elections.

The independents and others had secured 30 seats in 2004 and one in 1999.

To a question over the leadership issue in the event of either group forming the government, Gorhe was diplomatic.

“The party workers and the people at large want Uddhav Thackeray to become the chief minister, but the ultimate choice will rest with only Bal Thackeray,” she said.

Thakre said the leadership would not be an issue at all since Congress president Sonia Gandhi would take the decision.

Though Thakre declined to comment on the post-poll projections, Gorhe felt that they (the predictions) have a tendency to go off-mark, as was witnessed during similar projections and exit polls in the May 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

The counting for Tuesday’s polls will be held Oct 22.