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Exit polls aired soon after polling in Haryana and Maharashtra closed on Wednesday forecast a continued decimation of the incumbent Congress and a possible majority for the BJP in both the State Assemblies.
“The BJP is getting an absolute majority in both Haryana and Maharashtra. The polling trends indicate that there is a popular sentiment against the ruling Congress. The credibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and resentment against corruption and misgovernance of the Congress have been converted into votes,” said BJP General Secretary JP Nadda.
Early forecasts of the exit polls showed a majority of the pollsters favouring a BJP sweep in Haryana. The Nielsen-ABP exit poll predicted that the BJP would get 46 seats, just above the majority mark in the 90-member Haryana Assembly. The News24-Today’s Chanakya poll predicted 52 seats for the BJP in the State.
The results were more varied for Maharashtra, where the Nielsen poll showed the BJP emerging the single-largest party but short of a majority, with 127 seats. Today’s Chanakya, however, gave the BJP a simple majority with 151 seats in the 288-member House.
Congress not even second Significantly, the pollsters predicted that the Congress would fail to emerge as the single-largest opposition group in either State.
In Haryana, the Om Prakash Chautala-led Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) was predicted to notch up more seats than the Congress. In Maharashtra, it was the Shiv Sena that seemed to be emerging as the second-largest party.
According to the Election Commission, there was an overall increase in the polling percentage in both States. Haryana broke all past records by registering a record voter turnout of 73 per cent, crossing the 71.86 per cent polling in the recent Lok Sabha elections and comfortably surpassing the 65 per cent polled in the 2009 elections.
This trend in Haryana has been interpreted by the BJP as well as most exit polls as a sign of consolidation of non-Jat castes in favour of the BJP.
About 54.5 per cent polling was recorded in Maharashtra till 5 pm and expected to rise to about 62 per cent. It was just above 59.49 per cent in the 2009 assembly elections and rose to about 60.04 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
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