Opposition parties Monday doubted the exit poll projections that the BJP-led NDA will retain power at the Centre, calling it “speculation” and “fraud” and contrary to ground reality but the ruling party asserted that the final result will be in consonance with the predictions.
Exit polls Sunday forecast another term for Prime MinisterNarendraModi, with some of them projecting that the NDA will get more than 300seats to comfortably cross the majority mark of 272 in the LokSabha.
As the exit polls triggered a debate whether it could beright or wrong, Union minister NitinGadkari said they are not the “finaldecision” but indicate that the BJP will once again come to power, ridingon the development work done by the NDA government.
“Exit polls are not the final decision, but areindications. But, by and large, what comes out in the exit polls also reflectsin the results,” Gadkari told reporters in Nagpur.
Counting of votes in the seven-phase LokSabha polls will betaken up on May 23.
Finance Minister ArunJaitley said the results will be inconsonance with the outcome of multiple exit polls.
“Many of us may continue to squabble over correctnessand accuracy of the Exit Polls. The hard reality is that when multiple ExitPolls convey the same message, the direction of the result broadly would be inconsonance with the message,” the senior BJP leader said in a blogposttitled ‘The Message of Exit Polls’.
Kerala Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan said there is no needto rely on “speculations based on speculation”.
The CPI-M veteran, who met mediapersons in Thiruvananthapuramsoon after he returned from a 13-day Europe trip, exuded confidence that theCPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) will record an impressive win in Kerala.The exit polls have forecast a poor showing by the ruling Left Front.
“There have been many instances earlier when the exitpolls have failed to accurately predict the election results. Majority of theexit polls in 2004 had predicted continuation of NDA rule at the Centre, butthis was proved wrong. So there is no need to rely on speculations based onspeculation.”
Rejecting the exit polls as a “fraud”, RJD leaderTejashwiYadavsaid they are simplycompulsions of the market purveyed through a different name.
“It is an old trick of psychological manipulation ofthe deprived classes by Sangh- supported institutions and resources,” hesaid in a statement. Yadav also said the exit poll results do not reflect theground reality.
Yadav’s views were endorsed by veteran socialist leaderSharadYadav, who is contesting from Madhepura on the ticket of the RJD withwhich he is expected to merge his own party LJD.
The Trinamool Congress, which has dubbed exit polls as”gossip”, said its internal reports from districts in West Bengal andevery constituencies clearly say the party will win this time too.
Unfazed by exit polls projections, the Mamata Banerjee-ledTMC exuded confidence that it would play a major role in the formation of a newgovernment for which it is in touch with various opposition parties.
Some of the exit polls predicted TMC getting 24 seats, theBJP bagging 16, the Congress two and the Left Front drawing a blank.
West Bengal has a total of 42 LokSabha seats. The TMC andBJP won 34 and 2 seats respectively in 2014.
Banerjee on Sunday said she did not trust such surveys asthe “game plan” was to use them for “manipulation” of theEVMs. She dubbed the exit polls as “gossip”.
Dismissing the exit poll predictions, TMC secretary generalPartha Chatterjee said the party is not worried about the projections, which,he said in most cases do not match with the reality.
Hitting out at the pollsters, Karnataka Chief Minister H DKumaraswamy claimed that the “artificially engineered” or”manufactured” Modi wave is being used by the BJP to lure regionalparties well in advance to fill any shortfall after the results on May 23.
In a series of tweets, the JD(S) leader also said the exitpoll surveys only reiterated the serious concern of the Opposition parties onthe ruling party allegedly misusing Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs) forelectoral gains.
Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader G Parameshwara tooraised doubts over the EVMs, claiming that the BJP had sponsored the exit polls as the ground reality wasdifferent.
RajyaSabha member B K Hariprasad said the exit polls werethe reflection of the wishes of news channels where Modi wave is prevalent.
However, state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa said people ofthe country as well as Karnataka have supported Modi and the exit polls giving22 of the 28 seats to the saffron party in the state was a proof of that.
The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) leadersquestioning the EVMs shows their desperation, he added.
Congress leader ShashiTharoor went on to give the exampleof the recent Australian exit polls toemphasise that they do not always end up being correct. “I believe theexit polls are all wrong. In Australia last weekend, 56 different exit pollsproved wrong. In India many people don’t tell pollsters the truth fearing theymight be from the Government. Will wait till …,” he tweeted.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami made light of theexit polls suggesting a poor showing by the AIADMK, saying they were more of”imposing of opinion” and that the predictions will be proved wrong.
The ruling AIADMK, an ally of the BJP, will win all the 38seats in the state and one in Puducherry, he claimed.Even as the exit polls predicted a good show forhis party, DMK President M K Stalin said he does not take the projectionsseriously and would wait for three days to know the people’s mandate.