The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday dismissed exit polls for the Delhi Assembly elections, which predicted that the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party would retain power with a comfortable majority, NDTV reported. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi said after a meeting of the party’s parliamentarians and senior leaders in Delhi that exit polls are not “exact polls”.
“Exit polls don’t have their math right,” Lekhi said. “Also, the data is collected only till 4 or 5 pm...exit polls have got it wrong before as well. Our voters came in late in the day and voted till evening.” Lekhi claimed that the BJP will form the government in Delhi.
An aggregate of five exit polls indicated that the Aam Aadmi Party will win 56 out of the 70 seats – 11 fewer than it won in 2015. The majority mark in the Delhi Assembly is 36.
Congress’ Leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday said his party had not expected to do “exceedingly well” in the elections, but added that its leaders presented a stiff competition. “In this election, the BJP put forth all the communal agendas and Arvind Kejriwalji raised developmental agendas,” he said, according to Hindustan Times. “If Kejriwal wins, then it will be the victory of the developmental agendas.”
The party’s leader PC Chacko dismissed the exit poll predictions. On any likelihood of an alliance with AAP, he told ANI: “Once results are out only then we can discuss it. I think the surveys are not correct. Congress is likely to do better than what surveys predict.”
The Times Now-IPSOS survey predicted 44 seats for the Arvind Kejriwal-led party while the saffron party was predicted to improve its 2015 tally and win 26 constituencies. According to ABP News-C Voter, the AAP may win 49-63 seats while the BJP may get anything between 5-19 seats. Republic TV- Jan Ki Baat survey gave the ruling party 48-61 seats, and the BJP 9-21 constituencies. The TV9 Bharatvarsh-Cicero poll predicted 54 seats for Kejriwal’s party, and 15 for the saffron outfit. The India Today-Axis exit poll said AAP would sweep the elections, winning 59-68 seats, while the BJP would bag 2-11 constituencies.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had last week asked voters to cast their ballot before 10.30 am. “I know your decision. The results on February 11 will shock everyone,” he had said.
On Saturday, BJP Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari rejected the exit polls, saying they would fail on February 11, when results are declared. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia thanked AAP workers for their hard work and said the party would win by a huge margin.
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