Will the exit polls, which have projected a thumping majority for the NDA alliance, turn into ‘exact polls’? With the counting of votes for all seven phases of Lok Sabha elections scheduled for June 4, anticipation is mounting to see if the exit poll projections align with reality. The general elections were held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1. Many pollsters have forecast a third consecutive term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making it a focal point of discussions. Should he secure another term, Prime Minister Modi stands poised to match the historical feat of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who remains the only leader to get elected as Prime Minister for three straight terms.
The exit polls have predicted a strong show by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a setback for the opposition’s INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha elections. Roughly seven exit polls have projected approximately 350-370 seats for the BJP-led NDA in the 543-member Lok Sabha. They also indicated that the INDIA bloc might end up with around 107-140 seats, falling significantly short of the majority mark of 272 seats. The exit poll findings were released on June 1 evening, immediately after the conclusion of the seventh and final phase of polling. The Congress and other INDIA alliance parties dismissed the exit polls as “far-fetched” and “difficult to believe.”
Prime Minister Modi and the BJP have expressed confidence that the party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will achieve a historic victory by securing more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha. However, the Congress is claiming that the INDIA bloc, a coalition of over 25 opposition parties, is poised to secure victory in the elections with more than 295 seats. The results will show if the Congress has it in its organisation and leadership to challenge the BJP amid its reducing footprint across the country since 2014. It has failed to get even the main opposition party status in two consecutive Lok Sabha polls and has been reduced to a pale shadow of itself in several states, especially in the Hindi heartland.
Alert by the exit poll predictions, the opposition parties have instructed their counting agents to closely oversee the vote-counting process on June 4, emphasising the importance of obtaining Form 17-C, which includes the tally of votes registered at each polling station. A common advice has been issued to the counting agents of all the opposition political parties — come what may, they should not leave the counting tables till the last vote is counted and the final tally is prepared. The opposition’s stakes are higher still amid its reducing national footprint. An uncertain future however hangs over the fate of the Left, besides many regional parties including the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and YSR Congress, which are in power in West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh respectively.
