Mumbai: Warding off the much-hyped anti-incumbency factor, the ruling Congress-NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) appears set to storm back to power bagging 116 seats and leading in 27 others leaving behind Shiv Sena-BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), which has won 89 seats and was ahead in 26.

The Congress and NCP bagged 55 and 61 seats respectively and the alliance was inching toward the magic figure of 145 in the 288-member lower house.

The hopes of saffron combination, which harped on "under-performance" of the ruling Democratic Front, to stage a comeback to power appears to have been dashed.

However, the results and trends indicated that the Congress-NCP may fall short of the simple majority by a few seats and will have to seek support of the independents and rebels, who have romped home in 17 constituencies and are leading in three others.

BJP State unit chief Gopinath Munde admitted that the saffron combine has "lagged behind" but put up a brave face saying "no political combination will gain simple majority".

But Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar, the main architect of the victory for the ruling coalition, said the Chief Minister's post will go to Congress and his party will back the elected leader.

Meanwhile, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) is likely to meet tomorrow (Oct 17, 2004) to elect the new leader. Similarly, NCP is likely to elect its leader. Senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Gulam Nabi Azad are arriving in the city later in the day to supervise the election of the new leader.

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has also called a meeting of the party legislators.