JAIPUR: Congress leader Sachin Pilot said on Friday that the opposition's INDIA bloc will cross the majority mark of 272 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, adding that Congress will win more seats than the Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan.

"There is an atmosphere of change in the entire country and state and based on what I am seeing, I think that the performance of Congress will be much better than before and INDIA alliance will get a majority on June 4. It makes no sense to give a guarantee to cross 200/300/500 seats. All I can say is that in Rajasthan, we will get more seats than the BJP and INDIA alliance will cross the majority mark of 272 seats in the country," Sachin Pilot told ANI.

Sachin Pilot said that Congress will especially perform in those seats where it is in a direct contest with the BJP.

"The voters of our country are very intelligent and the strike rate of Congress will be better in the places where BJP is directly contesting against us," he said.

Earlier today, Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma exercised his franchise at a polling booth in Jaipur during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections on Friday and said that the state is going to repeat the history of the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections by ensuring the win of Bharatiya Janata Party candidates in all 25 of its 25 parliamentary constituencies.

"I would like to appeal to you today that this is a festival of democracy; do cast your vote. Your votes will strengthen our democracy, and our country. I would like to tell you that Rajasthan will repeat the history of 2014 and 2019—I am confident," Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma told reporters in Jaipur.

The 25 parliamentary constituencies of Rajasthan will vote in two phases, with Phase 1 of polling in the state underway. The remaining 13 seats in the state will be contested in the second phase on April 26.

Voting for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 began on Friday across 102 parliamentary constituencies spread over 21 states and Union Territories as the mega seven-phase electoral exercise commenced at 7:00 am.

Voters will exercise their franchise until 6:00 pm. According to the data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI), a total of 1.87 lakh polling stations have been set up, while 18 lakh personnel have been deployed across the 102 constituencies going to the polls.

The last general elections in 2019 were also held in seven phases. Vote counting will be done on June 4.