NEW DELHI: The opposition INDIA bloc leaders on Sunday rejected the exit poll results of Lok Sabha elections 2024 as most pollsters gave 350-400 seats to the BJP-led NDA government. The exit polls, released last night, predicted historic third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Discarding the predictions, the Opposition leaders reiterated that the INDIA bloc will win 295 seats.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, speaking to reporters, said: “It is not exit poll, it is Modi media poll.It is his fantasy poll.” When asked about the number of seats for INDIA bloc, he said, “Have you heard Sidhu Moose Wala’s song 295? 295.” Earlier Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had also pegged this number for I INDIA bloc.
Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also rejected the exit poll results calling it a fraud poll. “What was the need for the BJP to conduct these fake polls just three days before election results?” asked Kejriwal.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh also expressed confidence in the party’s performance, and said, “I am not bothered about what the BJP and the exit polls say… I don’t think the BJP is winning any seats in Punjab… Congress will emerge as the biggest party with the biggest numbers…”
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav questioned the credibility of the exit polls, alleging that they were prepared months in advance and only being shown on TV channels now, creating scope for “fraud”. He insisted that the opposition had already pointed out that “pro-BJP media” would show the ruling party crossing 300 seats in the Lok Sabha.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh accused PM Modi of conspiring and managing the exit polls, asserting that there will be a significant difference between the exit polls and the actual results on June 4. He stated that the INDIA alliance had a detailed discussion on numbers and it’s impossible for them to get anything below 295 seats.
Expressing confidence, Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy said the Congress will win at least 10 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state and that the INDIA bloc would form a government at the Centre. He cited a post by BJP on ‘X’, where the saffron party claimed it would get four-five Lok Sabha seats in Telangana.
AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh dismissed the exit polls as biased and labeled them as “Modi’s exit poll”. He said discussions within the INDIA bloc suggests they would secure 295 seats based on feedback from party members. Singh argued that exit polls, with their limited sample size compared to India’s vast population, hold little significance.
Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress also rejected the exit poll predictions regarding the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, stating that they believe in people’s mandate. TMC’s Santanu Sen claimed that most exit polls predicted a BJP victory in the 2021 assembly elections, but the actual results showed TMC winning a two-thirds majority. He asserted that TMC will win more than 30 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
The Lok Sabha exit polls released on Saturday predicted that the BJP-led NDA will not only win a third term but may better its 2019 results of 353 seats.
The 2024 Lok Sabha polls were held in 7 phases from April 19 to June 1. Some states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar saw polling across all 7 phases while states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal and Punjab saw single-phase voting. Overall voter turnout in all the phases was marginally lower compared to the 2019 polls and a row had erupted over the Election Commission revising voter turnout data days after conclusion of a phase. The poll panel however refuted all allegations.