Even as most of the exit polls predicted that the NDA would be ahead of the Mahagathbandhan in the Bihar assembly polls, the INDIA leadership has pushed back against the exit poll findings and expressed confidence that Tejashwi Yadav will become the chief minister.
Axis My India Exit Poll is the latest to give the NDA a clear majority, predicting between 121-141 seats, and the Mahagathbandhan 98-118 seats.
However, the Mahagathbandhan is not buying it. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the BJP is deliberately getting exit polls done by their own people to stop Mahagathbandhan and said, "The people in Bihar have voted for change; Tejashwi Yadav is going to become the chief minister."
RJD leader Shakti Singh Yadav too rejected exit polls and expressed confidence in Tejashwi Yadav becoming chief minister.
No one trusts exit polls, claimed Congress leader Meem Afzal, adding, "I do not need to say who makes them and how."
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar too said he does not believe in exit polls and that the Mahagathbandhan will win.
Congress MP Digvijaya Singh went a step further to say that if the NDA gets more than 140 seats, it will be because of voter list and EVM manipulation. He said when he visited the state, he felt that it was an "equal fight."
Congress National president Mallikarjun Kharge, however, chose to adopt a wait-and-watch posture. "All the exit polls are showing a lead for the NDA. They indicate that there isn’t much support for the Mahagathbandhan. Similarly, in Haryana, exit polls had shown that Congress would win, but the results turned out the opposite, and the BJP came to power. Let’s wait and watch what happens when the actual results come," he said.
Congress general secretary (organisation) and MP K.C. Venugopal too echoed similar sentiments, pointing out how exit polls were proven wrong in Haryana. "Let us wait for the real results," he said.
