Pre-poll analysts, almost all of whom had predicted an unstable government with the smaller parties playing a major role, have been left with egg on the face, as the United Progressive Alliance has swept the Lok Sabha election. Now, most observers are calling it a clear-cut vote for stability, and saying it was the combination of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's policies and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's grassroots work that did the trick.

While the Congress celebrates the clear-cut verdict in its favour, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has lost in some of its former strongholds, is in introspection mode. BJP president Rajnath Singh said there was no question of fixing responsibility on himself or any other individual for the dismal performance of the BJP-led NDA, but added that the reasons behind the verdict would be analysed.

Singh, who was on his way to meet L K Advani, whom the NDA had projected as the prime ministerial candidate, conceded that the poll results were not up to the expectations of the party or its alliance.

The BJP and NDA were expected to do well in states like Delhi, Rajasthan and Maharastra but we did not fare well, he said.

President Pratibha Patil's task of inviting the largest party or coalition to form the government has been made simpler than it has been for her recent predecessors. Since the UPA has left its principal rival, the National Democratic Alliance, way behind, an invitation to the Congress-led alliance to form the government is inevitable.

According to a PTI report, President Patil will meet former attorney general Ashok Desai to consult on the formation of government.

In the heartland state of UP, Congress leaders were jubilant after making significant gains in a state where they had earlier lost much ground to the BJP and regional formations. Many of them gave credit to their general secretary Rahul Gandhi.

"Uttar Pradesh is a political force," said Gandhi, who represents Amethi in the state, at a press conference as the Congress looked likely to improve its tally to 20 or more from the nine Lok Sabha seats it won in 2004.

"It's the victory of the Congress policies implemented under the leadership of the party president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi," said the president of the state's party unit, Rita Bahuguna Joshi.

The Congress also swept Rajasthan, where it had won just four seats in the last election. The BJP, which rules the state, is likely to emerge a very distant second. The UPA also looked set to sweep Punjab, where it has not done well in recent times.

In West Bengal, the Left parties, which have ruled the state for the past 32 years, were wondering what hit them as the Trinamool Congress-UPA combination surged well ahead of them.