DHAKA: Exit polls are predicting the end of the Congress-led UPA’s 10-year rule in India and return of the BJP-led NDA, attesting that its prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi’s game plan focusing the polls on himself has paid off.
NewsX has projected a national scenario which sees the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) winning 289 Lok Sabha seats, comfortably past the mark of 272 required for a majority.
The NDA had managed 159 seats in 2009.
On its own, the NewsX-CVoter survey sees the BJP getting as many as 251 seats, reports Hindustan Times.
This would be the saffron party’s best ever showing in the Lok Sabha polls. The party had won 182 seats in 1998 and 1999.
The survey sees the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) getting a drubbing, managing just 101 seats, down from the 262 it had achieved five years ago.
Most channels quickly went on to a micro picture. The CNN-IBN gave the BJP 5-7 seats in Delhi, while the AAP was predicted to win 0-2 seats.
The Congress, which won all seven Delhi seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, was headed for a wipeout, the CNN-IBN-CSDS survey showed.
‘Delhi could swing totally in favour of the BJP, projected to get 5-7 seats,’ CNN-IBN tweeted.
‘Impressive debut by @AamAadmiParty in Punjab… post-poll for Punjab: BJP 6-9, Cong 3-5, AAP 1-3,’ the channel added.
Opinion polls had earlier showed the BJP and its allies taking the largest share of seats in the election staggered over five weeks.
The Congress, in power for the past decade, faces its worst defeat as it battles the anger of the public over a string of scams and a slow economy.
The BJP has insisted a strong ‘(Narendra) Modi wave’ will sweep the nation. The BJP’s prime ministerial nominee traveled over 300,000 km and held 5,827 public meetings, mixing traditional methods of holding rallies with innovative use of technology, the party claimed.
The exit poll results of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2009 were close to the projection lines. However, predictions of the 2004 general elections were off with the exit-poll favorite NDA securing only 187 seats against the estimates of over 240 to 250 seats.
The Congress and its pre-poll allies got 216 seats against projection ranging from 170 to 205 seats.
BDST: 1948 HRS, MAY 12, 2014
