With voting for the Assembly polls in 59 constituencies of Meghalaya ending today, all eyes are now on the results which will be declared on March 2.
However, exit polls today predicted that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s National People’s Party (NPP) is likely to emerge as the single largest party in Meghalaya.
With the exit polls predicting a hung Assembly, there are indications by NPP towards a post-poll alliance with its earlier partner, the BJP.
India Today-Axis My India exit poll also predicted that NPP is likely to win 18 to 26 seats, Congress 6 to 12 seats, BJP 4 to 8 seats, Others 4 to 8 seats.
The Zee News-Matrize exit poll predicted 21-26 seats for the NPP, 6-11 seats to the BJP, 8-13 to the Trinamool Congress, 3-6 for the Congress and 10-19 for others.
TimesNow-ETG predicts NPP will sweep 18 to 26 seats while Trinamool Congress will win 8-14 seats, UDP 8-14 seats, BJP 3-6 seats and Congress two to five seats.
The Jan Ki Baat exit poll however gave NPP 11 to 16 seats, UDP 10 to 14 seats, Trinamool Congress 9 to 14 seats, Congress 6 to 11 seats and BJP 3 to 7 seats.
The exit poll projections may or may not be the same as the actual results. However, this is because a respondent may have lied to the surveyors after being asked who he/she voted for.
In 2018, Congress emerged as the single largest party with 21 of 60 seats. The NPP which won 19 seats formed the government after forging post-poll alliances with regional parties and the BJP.
