Hope deferred maketh the heart sick. But that’s not how the opposition parties have reacted to the exit polls. They have, instead, turned combative, asking their workers to gear up for the final battle and defeat the conspiracy to manipulate counting of votes.
Shaking off the debilitating impact of the exit polls that predicted massive gains for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – some even taking the NDA tally to 400 – Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi on Sunday (June 2) took feedback from the party candidates through video-conferencing. While the top leadership was convinced after the conversation, with their candidates Sunday and with leaders of alliance partners on Saturday, that the BJP had been knocked out of power, Rahul asked the party leaders and contestants to stay focused till the last vote was counted instead of losing heart because of the exit polls. Rahul later described the exit polls as “fantasy”, branding it a ‘Modi-Media poll’. Many top opposition leaders used harsh words against the exit polls, calling them fake, fraudulent and manipulated. They said the PMO manufactured the content and the pollsters hawked it on television channels.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “The basis of exit polls is DM, not EVM. But the administration should remember, there is no bigger force than people’s power.” Akhilesh also claimed that the exit polls showed the BJP getting more than 300 seats to create scope for manipulation. “These polls had been prepared months ago; they were only shown on TV on Saturday. They are trying to commit a fraud on the people’s will. The BJP also wants to profit from stock market on Monday. The BJP knows the result of the entire country cannot be changed like the Chandigarh mayor poll. The opposition is alert this time and people’s anger is also peaking. The corrupt bureaucrats who are aligned with the BJP are also scared because of a pro-active Supreme Court and people’s anger. INDIA is winning and there should be no lapses during the counting. The candidates should keep vigil, get victorious and then celebrate.” Shiv Sena (Uddhav) leader Sanjay Raut said, “There is lot of pressure on these media companies. The exit poll exercise is a corporate game.”
Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said, “The leader whose exit is certain on June 4 has designed these exit polls. These are fake, false and fraudulent. INDIA will not get less than 295. We will get more than that. The outgoing prime minister and the home minister are playing psychological games. They are mounting pressure on political parties, on the Election Commission, on counting agents, on Returning Officers. They are being intimidated. An atmosphere of invincibility is being created. The truth is completely opposite of that falsehood. This attempt of the prime minister and the home minister to weaken our resolve is doomed to fail. Feedback from states makes us believe that the minimum base for our alliance is 295. This psychological war will be confronted head on. We will defeat these designs.”
Also read: Exit Polls Predict ‘350+’ NDA Victory
The Congress in an unprecedented move presented some of its state unit heads through video-conference to debunk the exit polls. The state heads were asked by Ramesh to explain their own assessment and all of them emphatically disagreed with the exit poll findings. While some of them smelt a conspiracy to demoralise the opposition parties, others said the pollsters cooked up data sitting in air-conditioned rooms because the results failed to reflect the ground reality.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said, “This is scare-mongering. People were fighting against the BJP. The Congress is contesting 17 seats and we expect to win 16. Out of total 48, our alliance will win 38 to 40 seats in Maharashtra. There was an anti-BJP wave in the state. Modi and Shah got a poor response. People used to get angry hearing about the BJP. Farmers didn’t want to hear about BJP. Collectors are being threatened. They want to create fear and rig counting. We are not going to allow the BJP to distort the public opinion. People of Maharashtra wanted to teach the BJP a lesson. People will beat up BJP if what the exit polls have shown comes true.”
Rajasthan chief Govind Singh Dotasara said, “We are clear on 11-12 seats [in Rajasthan]. We have an upper edge on a few more. The BJP is ahead only on seven seats. We suspect they have hatched a big conspiracy. We are vigilant; our workers have been alerted. We were anyway leading on many seats in the assembly elections. Now we have struck alliances. I challenge the media… we are going to win more seats than the BJP in Rajasthan. They are giving us just three-four out of 25. The local BJP leaders are demoralised. They know what has happened on the ground. People have voted for Congress.”
Uttar Pradesh chief Ajay Rai also said the alliance fought well and received massive support. “We have received support of voters who never voted for us for decades. Every section of society has voted for us. Because of our Nyay guarantees and the threat to Constitution, even Dalits voted for us. Modi said char sau paar and the media outlet chose to follow that line. But the results will surprise everyone and Uttar Pradesh will contribute heavily in the formation of INDIA Government at the Centre.”
Karnataka deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar said, “I have contested 10 elections and have seen elections for 40 years. We have our own surveys. What they are showing in Karnataka is astonishing. Even in the assembly election, they showed 80-90 seats to Congress. I said 136 and that was the number we got. Now also, I am telling you, we will win two-thirds of the total seats. People of the country want change.” Karnataka has 28 seats and the exit polls have predicted more than 25 for BJP. Shivakumar believes the Congress will win at least 18.
Haryana Congress chief Uday Bhan said, “Exit polls are a fraud on the people. It is designed by the Central government. We have inputs from the ground. We will win at least 8 seats and won’t be surprised if the other two seats also come our way.”
Gujarat Congress chief Shaktisinh Gohil said, “We fought valiantly and we are in a tough contest on 12 out of 25 seats (one seat was won by BJP without election).”
Also read: Exit Polls Indicate Exit of Reason, Tolerance and Hope
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said, “We are seeing close fights in Himachal. We have an edge on two seats. The field report says something else, exit polls says something else. In assembly polls, exit polls gave us 22, we got 40.”
Congress Jharkhand chief Rajesh Thakur said, “A non-biological person has launched a psychological war on us. What do we say about it. Aaj Tak channel said CPI-ML may win two-three seats in Jharkhand. The CPI-ML is contesting only one seat. This was only to terrorise our workers. People were fascinated by Congress guarantees. People were also alarmed by the threat to the Constitution. Prices and unemployment dominated people’s concerns. Congress will win four and our alliance partners will win four. At least 8 to 10 seats here.”
Bihar Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh said, “We have done very well but the exit polls were designed to break us. We will win around 20 (out of 40) seats in Bihar. The exit polls have shown 9 to 11 seats which is a farce.”
Assam Congress chief Bhupen Bora, “We will win a minimum seven seats. Our vote-share is also increasing. The BJP was facing internal conflict. The local media is predicting four seats for us. The BJP candidates faced massive protests from the people. Our 25 guarantees created waves. People didn’t appreciate Narendra Modi’s language.”
Punjab Congress chief Pratap Singh Bajwa said, “It was done to manipulate satta bazar and stock market. We are going to win nine seats. AAP will win one and three candidates who fought on anti-BJP plank may win. The NDA will draw a blank in Punjab.”
An INDIA delegation later called on the Election Commission to plead for measures against misuse of postal ballots. Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said, “The statutory rule was that postal ballots should be counted before EVM counting is completed. But the Election Commission has changed this rule by issuing a fresh guideline. This cannot be done. There have been cases when results have changed because of postal ballots. We have requested the commission to count postal ballots before EVM counting.” The delegation asked the commission to give strict instructions to the counting agents and Returning Officers to follow the guidelines of the Election Commission.
