Exit pollsters are divided in their predictions for the Bihar Assembly election results, which will be announced on Sunday. Soon after Thursday’s fifth and last phase of the poll, which recorded over 60 per cent turnout, various channels and survey agencies released their forecast.
While the JD(U)-RJD-Congress grand alliance was the favourite of most agencies, Today’s Chanakya, the group that correctly predicted the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections, said the NDA would sweep the State with 155 (plus or minus 11) seats. Its survey, along with the News 24 channel, predicted 80 seats (plus or minus 9) for the grand alliance. Other parties, it said, would get two to eight seats.
ABP News-Nielsen gave 130 seats to the grand alliance. The NDA, according to it, will get 108 seats and other parties five seats in the 243-seat Assembly. The India Today-Cicero poll gave a slight edge to the NDA and a hung Assembly. The survey said the NDA would get 120 seats, two short of the number required for a majority, and predicted 117 seats for the Nitish-Lalu alliance. It gave other parties six seats.
A joint survey by India TV and C-Voter said the grand alliance will win 112 to 132 seats, while the BJP-led front may get 101 to 121 seats. Times Now’s survey, also with C-Voter, predicted 122 seats for the grand alliance, and. 111 seats for the NDA.
The survey by News X and CNX predicted 130-140 seats for the grand alliance. It said the NDA would get 90 to 100 seats. The News Nation channel’s survey said the grand alliance would form the government with 120 to 124 seats, while the NDA would sit in Opposition with 115 to 119 seats and other parties would get three to five seats.