The party would rather wait for the Election Commission's verdict on the Janata Dal's election symbol on August 3, which will decide the format in which the Sharad Yadav faction of the JD will contest the Karnataka polls.If the EC freezes the symbol, JD candidates will contest on the Lok Shakti ticket and the BJP will part with 80 out of 224 Assembly seats and 10 out of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies to the Lok Shakti. But if the JD (Sharad) gets the wheel symbol, seat distribution between the BJP, Lok Shakti and the JD (Sharad) would have to be worked out afresh, a senior BJP leader said.The EC verdict notwithstanding, the JD (Deve Gowda)'s alliance with the Nationalist Congress Partyis likely to make it a triangular contest in Karnataka and the NDA would benefit from the split of votes between the Congress and the third front represented by the Gowda faction and the NCP.The BJP had contested 18 Lok Sabha seats in last year's parliamentary elections in Karnataka, winning 13, and the Lok Shakti contested 10, winning only three.

In the overall scenario, the party hopes to contest almost as many seats as it contested last time and increase its tally by at least 25 seats due to the ``increased strength'' of the National Democratic Alliance and achievements of the 15-month-old Vajpayee Government. ``Winnability would be the sole criterion for selecting BJP candidates,'' a BJP leader said.The party also hopes to make inroads for the first time in Kerala and some north-eastern states. The party's first success in the North-east came about in the 1998 polls when it won the Silchar seat in Assam. It hopes to make major gains due to its alliance with parties like the Arunachal Congress of GegongApang, the Manipur Congress of Nipamacha Singh and the ruling Mizoram Nationalist Party of Zoram Thanga.

The BJP would contest 77 out of the 85 seats in Uttar Pradesh, leaving three for the Loktantrik Congress Party (LCP), two each for the Jantantrik BSP and the Samata Party and one for Maneka Gandhi. The party had left equal number of seats during the 1998 elections also but the LCP had surrendered its seats to the BJP while JBSP candidates Yashwant Singh (Azamgarh) and D.P. Yadav (Sambhal) had contested on the BJP's election symbol (lotus).

The BJP would contest 31 out of total 54 seats in Bihar, the same as it contested last year, leaving 23 for the Samata Party (including the Sharad Yadav faction of JD). The party might barter or concede one or two seats during bilateral talks.

The party had contested five seats in Tamil Nadu as part of the AIADMK alliance and was hoping to contest six in alliance with the DMK-led front this time. In Andhra Pradesh, the party had, during seat-adjustment talks withthe Telugu Desam Party, demanded 10 seats this time and is hoping to contest seven.

Senior BJP leaders feel that they might improve their performance in Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Haryana while they may lose few seats in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.