Amid the sweltering heat in North India, the Samajwadi Party workers are working in shifts round-the-clock to keep round-the-clock vigil at the strong rooms where the electronic voting machines (EVM) are stored, even as workers of the BJP are taking it easy.

The results of exit polls have not doused the enthusiasm.

Exit polls have predicted 62-72 seats for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and 6 to 17 seats for the INDIA bloc.

SP spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi echoed the views of party president Akhilesh Yadav that the exit poll is based on the District Magistrate and not the EVM. Mr. Gandhi, who has been spending hours in the heat at the Kasganj strongroom of Etah Lok Sabha for almost a month, said that the "exit polls are not exact polls" and added that the party workers' motivation to protect the EVMs from foul play has only doubled. The administration has issued two passes each per Assembly segment.

"As Etah has five Assembly segments, we are ten people working in three shifts. There is a cooler to beat the heat and ludo to kill time. With no BJP and BSP workers around, we only have officials and policemen to discuss the trends and possible outcomes," he said.

Mr. Gandhi said the administration had provided them with the form 17C for all the booths and this was being shared with the counting agents. "We are sharing a docket that contains all the relevant information with counting agents and are training them to spot any attempt to sabotage the process on the day of counting," he said.

The strong rooms covered by the CCTV cameras are under the protection of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).