A.C. Nielsen said the Left Democratic Front (LDF) would end up with 99 seats in the 140-member assembly, leaving the now ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) with just 40 seats - a complete reversal of the 2001 outcome.

The one remaining seat would go to a smaller party but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been desperate to open its account in the assembly, would still go without representation in the house.

The final exit poll prediction mirrors the findings of the pre-poll surveys that had forecast a sweep for the Left led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

Wednesday's third round of balloting involving 15 constituencies took place in Kannur and Kasaragod districts. The first two rounds were held April 22 and April 29 to 59 and 66 seats respectively.

The exit poll results notwithstanding, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram immediately after the polling ended that he was confident of retaining power.

"Though I am not going to predict how many seats we will get, I will say that we have done well. I did not see any anti-incumbency wave," said Chandy.

But CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said they were poised for a historic win.

"We will win more than 100 seats. The people in Kerala have been consistently voting against the UDF in all elections since 2003 and the same is to happen this time also," he said.

In Kannur the poll percentage touched 73 percent while in Kasaragod it crossed 70 percent.

Close to 13,000 security personnel from Kerala and other states had been deployed in the two districts and 1,000 digital cameras were placed in polling booths.

Both districts are known as red bastions and the Left was never in doubt about its victory.

Contrary to fears of a volatile situation on polling day, everything went off without any major incidents.

In Kasaragod, in a polling booth at Kasaba, none of the nearly 1,700 voters turned up protesting against the callous attitude of political parties who they said never resolved their problems.

The third group in the fray is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which hopes to open its account in the Kerala assembly by winning from Manjeswaram in Kasaragod district where it came second in the last four assembly polls.