Goa Exit poll 2017: BJP may retain power

However, since last evening, all TV channels are holding discussions on nothing but the exit polls of the marathon elections to these five states conducted over the last two months.

Among these various exit polls for the five states that went to polls in February and March, the most conspicuous trends has been on the SAD- BJP being trounced in Punjab with AAP making an impressive debut; and, the BJP emerging as the single largest party in Uttar Pradesh.

Modi threw himself into the battle for Uttar Pradesh, where his BJP won by a landslide in the 2014 general election, to shore up its core Hindu voter base after his party’s campaign got off to a weak start.

The problem is with Punjab, where one poll gives the Congress a majority, one the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and three others a hung verdict.

While the Akali Dal-BJP combine is upbeat about a hat-trick, the Congress is sure about staging a comeback with a comfortable majority.

The BSP supremo has not yet reacted to SP’s overtures. ABP-CSDS exit polls, however, predicted a neck-to-neck fight between SP-Congress and BJP.

While Harish Rawat remains a popular chief minister, BJP’s surge nationally may have helped the party, exit polls say. Majority have predicted that BJP will win over 180 seats; some going as far as 210. Times Now-VMR predicted 190-210 seats for the BJP, 156-169 for SP-Congress and 60-72 for BSP.

The Congress-SP alliance, most polls predict, will occupy the second spot. Wiping out the drugs menace, providing employment to the youth, cleansing the environment of the communal polarisation as evidenced in the growing incidents of sacrilege, waiver of farm loans, and industrial revival would be high on his agenda once the party forms the government, he said. If this comes to be true, it will be the highest ever tally for BJP in Uttar Pradesh, even more than the Ram Mandir wave of 1991.

The BJP has also picked up the state of Uttarakhand, according to most polls, and is likely to win the north-eastern state of Manipur from the Indian National Congress. The SAD contested 94 seats while BJP in 23 seats.

Zee News polls of polls said BJP would win 219 seats in UP, Congress 122 and BSP. One of the agencies, however, is predicting a hung house with both Congress and AAP tied at 55 each. That would translate into 328 seats out of a total of 403 seats for the BJP in the assembly elections. India TV-C-Voter, however, predicted a BJP government with 25-31 seats.