New Delhi, Sept. 18 :     The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance continues to maintain its lead in the Lok Sabha elections, according to the second exit poll telecast tonight on Doordarshan. Of the 344 Lok Sabha seats which went to polls in three phases, the DRS-sponsored exit poll has given the NDA 191 seats. The Congress and its allies came a poor second with 126, while the third front seemed to head for decimation with just 27 seats. According to the poll, of the 76 seats where voting took place today, the NDA secured 46, the Congress 21 and the others only nine. On the whole, the BJP and its allies have added 23 seats to their 1998 tally. The Congress has gained eight seats while the third front has suffered a loss of 31 seats, according to the exit poll. Although the three crucial heartland states ? Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar ? held their first round of polls today, the Doordarshan exit poll did not give state-wise figures, which are expected to be telecast after the final round of polling. However, the seat count for Andhra Pradesh, which completed its polling today, gave the Telugu Desam-BJP alliance first place with 22 seats, while the Congress got 18 seats. One seat was picked up by a third front constituent. There was an elaborate preamble to today?s exit poll telecast. G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, chief anchorperson and DRS psephologist, was at pains to counter the Congress? charge that his earlier forecasts were ?inaccurate and did not reflect ground realities?. Rao showed his 1998 projections, which were more or less correct, but avoided revealing the 1996 figures which were wide off-the-mark. He also did not show the 1998 Assembly election results where he went completely wrong on Madhya Pradesh. Today?s show was lacklustre as most of the time was taken up in discussing issues not related to the exit polls. The figures of the last exit poll, conducted on September 11, were repeated over and over again in a bid to project the NDA as a clear frontrunner. Predictably, the BJP sounded happy. ?The trends are always favouring our party,? spokesman M. Venkaiah Naidu said. But a top BJP source said the feedback from the 30 seats which went to polls today in Uttar Pradesh were not ?very encouraging?.