With the Lok Sabha elections concluding today, all eyes are now on exit poll results that will be made public around 7pm this evening. The Lok Sabha polls were held in seven phases starting April 19. The voter turnout has been normal on the patterns of the 2019 polls except for the first phase. In Phase 1, the voter turnout was 66.14% and mostly remained around this in the rest of the phases with 66.71% in Phase 2, 65.68% in Phase 3, 69.16% in Phase 4, 62.20% in Phase 5, 63.37% in Phase 6 and the polling for Phase 7 is to conclude this evening.
Both the BJP and the Congress have exuded confidence of victory after the five phases of elections. While the BJP is seeking a third term for Narendra Modi, the Congress is looking to return to power after warming the opposition benches for the last 10 years. The exit poll results are all set to make their ways to public this evening after the restriction imposed by the Election Commission of India ends at 6.30pm.
The exit polls in 2019 predicted the NDA to return power with around 306 and missed the pulse. It underestimated the BJP-led NDA’s performance, as the bloc won 353 seats while the Congress-led UPA got 93. The most correct edit polls in 2019 were India Today-Axis which gave 352 seats to the NDA and News 24-Today’s Chanakya which predicted 350 seats for the NDA.
In 2014, most of the exit polls gave the NDA 283 seats and the UPA 105 seats, missing the pulse of the nation as the NDA went on to win 336 seats while the UPA got 60 seats. In the 2014 general election, only News 24-Chanakya was near to the result as it predicted 340 seats for the NDA.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge today said that the INDIA bloc will win 295 seats and form a government in the country. Kharge made the remarks after the hour-long meeting of the INDIA bloc in which leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav and Sharad Pawar participated.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Priyanka Gandhi have made their choice clear that Rahul Gandhi is their Prime Ministerial candidate. The Congress leaders have been projecting Rahul Gandhi as the PM face of the INDIA bloc. With the polling concluding this evening, all eyes are on the number of seats BJP and the Congress are expected to get on June 4. While victory for the BJP means third term for Narendra Modi, a victory for Congress may result in Rahul Gandhi leading the country for the next five years. Stay tuned for Exit Polls 2024 .
(With inputs from agencies)
