Exit polls show dead heat in Bengal, LDF in Kerala, DMK sweep in Tamil Nadu

Counting of votes for all the four states and that of the Union Territory of Puducherry will be taken up on Sunday.



EXIT POLLS broadcast by various television networks Thursday showed a dead heat race in West Bengal with many pollsters giving the ruling Trinamool Congress an edge, and some giving the BJP an advantage. In Kerala, almost all polls predicted the ruling CPI(M)-led Left front to buck the four decade political trend of the incumbent being voted out of power.

Narendra Modi on Monday urged people in West Bengal to exercise their franchise in the seventh phase of the Assembly polls

In Tamil Nadu, almost all polls predicted a landslide victory for the DMK-Congress-Left alliance with some predicting a complete rout of the ruling AIADMK. AIADMK went into the Assembly elections for the first time without its stalwart leader late J Jayalalithaa. If the exit polls hold, the DMK alliance, led by M K Stalin (after the death of its patriarch M Karunanidhi), will be returning to power in the state after a decade.

In Assam, the pollsters predicted the ruling BJP to have an edge over the Congress-AIUDF opposition alliance. The BJP had snatched power from the Congress in Assam for the first time in 2016.

The exit polls, if they actually come true, will be a big setback for the Congress as the party is predicted to lose Kerala, which usually alternates between the Congress-led UDF and the CPM-led LDF every five years, and Assam where it had waged a spirited campaign and was hoping to wrest power from the BJP after a five-year gap. The party was leading the electoral battle in these two states with senior leader Rahul Gandhi had focused much attention here.

Around 16.15 pc turnout recorded till 9.30 AM in Bengal Assembly poll

In Tamil Nadu, Congress was a minor player in the DMK alliance. Many polls predicted it to lose power in Puducherry as well. The AIADMK- BJP-NR Congress alliance seems to be ahead in all the polls. Most polls also predicted a big setback for the Congress-Left alliance in Bengal in the fiercely bipolar contest between the TMC and the BJP.

  

While the Assam projection is good news for the BJP, the close contest which most pollsters have predicted in Bengal, where it had waged a high-octane campaign, will keep it on tenterhooks till the weekend. The Trinamool Congress too will be on the edge till Sunday. But in a big boost to the BJP, all the polls nevertheless showed the party, which had three seats with a vote share of around 10.16 per cent vote share in the 2016 Assembly elections, crossing the 100 mark.

Sorce- indianexpress

Post a Comment

0 Comments