Lok Sabha results will be completely opposite of exit poll predictions: Sonia

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday said that the party was hopeful that the INDIA bloc’s results would be “completely opposite” of what the exit polls predicted.

Gandhi’s reaction to the exit polls that predicted an emphatic win for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comes a day before counting votes for the Lok Sabha election starts.

“We are very hopeful that our results are completely opposite of what the exit poll is saying,” the veteran Congress leader said, in response to a question on how hopeful she was about the INDIA bloc forming the government at the Centre.

“We have to wait, just wait and see,” she said on the sidelines of an event to pay tribute to former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi on his birth anniversary, a PTI report said.

Ten exit polls have predicted a comfortable win for the BJP and some even forecast a two-thirds majority for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 543-member House. The exit polls predicted that the BJP’s tally will cross its 2019 mark and could even touch 350 with its main opponent, the Congress, likely to be restricted below 75.

Gandhi’s comment is in line with the stand adopted by the Congress and the Opposition’s INDIA bloc, which has rejected the exit polls on Sunday and announced that the alliance would win 295 seats. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has described the exit polls as “a Modi media poll”.

“It is his fantasy poll,” Rahul said on Sunday in a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Yashwant Deshmukh, founder of CVOTER, rebutted the criticism by Rahul Gandhi, recalling the occasions when its exit polls predicted victories for the non-BJP parties. “They can say that they are fantasy polls of PM Modi but when our exit polls were showing that Congress is winning in Karnataka or Telangana or other INDI alliance partners in West Bengal, Delhi, Punjab, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, whenever we were saying that they are leading and they are winning, were we fantasy polls of Rahul Gandhi or Arvind Kejriwal or Mamata Banerjee or Stalin?…”

Various pollsters predict a wide range of seats for the ruling NDA, with estimates ranging from 353 to 383 seats for the BJP-led alliance and 152 to 182 seats for the opposition INDIA bloc. Some polls even project over 400 seats for the NDA. If these predictions hold true, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would match Jawaharlal Nehru’s record of leading his party to victory for a third consecutive term. Exit poll results also suggest a significant breakthrough for the BJP in southern states, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.

To be sure, exit polls are not always accurate and have often got the verdict wrong in earlier elections, especially in states with diverse populations, castes and communities. But they are useful in identifying trends. The results will be announced on June 4.

On Saturday, Congress general secretary for communications Jairam Ramesh claimed that the exit polls were psychological games. “The man whose exit is certain on June 4th has had these exit polls orchestrated. The INDIA Janbandhan will definitely get a minimum of 295 seats, which is a clear and decisive majority. The outgoing Prime Minister can remain smug for three days in the meanwhile. These are all psychological games he is masterminding but the ACTUAL results will be very different,” he said.