The state assembly elections for the states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Kerala along with elections for the Union Territory of Puducherry were held beginning from March 27th this year and concluded with the end of the eighth phase of voting in West Bengal on April 29th. The counting is to be done soon and the results are expected to be announced on 2nd May 2021. Until the results come out, only speculative results in the form of exit polls will give an indication as to what results we can expect. Exit polls are not accurate by any means and should not be seen as actual results. Let’s have a look at what the exit polls indicate right now.
The scenario in each state is different, firstly, in West Bengal the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress (TMC) looks to have an edge of Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in what is turning out to be a closely contested battle for power with different exit polls showing either the BJP or TMC in the lead with no certainty of majority. Secondly, in Assam, BJP looks to sweep the elections over the Congress-AIUDF alliance by winning with clear majority. In Kerala meanwhile, all the exit polls have touted the ruling CPI (M) led left front to end the 40 year trend of voting the incumbent ruling party out of power which would mean a severe blow to the Congress led UDF at the hands of the CPI (M) led LDF.
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Down south beside the state of Kerala, Tamil Nadu also had elections conducted in March/April 2021 and the exit polls for Tamil Nadu indicate a crushing victory for the DMK – Congress – Left alliance. Many exit polls are going far enough to daringly predict a complete victory of the alliance over AIADMK. AIADMK is fighting their first elections without their long-time leader late J Jayalalithaa and are on the verge of facing a setback. The DMK led alliance is also without its stalwart leader late M Karunanidhi, this time the alliance led by MK Stalin seeks to return to power in the state after a duration of 10 years.
Sponsored LinksAll the exit polls have only one similarity, a setback for the Indian National Congress (INC) – most exit polls even predict Congress to be wiped out from the UT of Puducherry. The Congress-Left alliance is already relegated to being a minor player after the battle has become a two horse race between the TMC & BJP. Congress also remains a minor player in the DMK alliance in Tamil Nadu as majority of the seats being predicted as wins for DMK alone.
The BJP has received a major confidence high from the fact that after heaving only a measly 10% vote share in West Bengal in 2016 elections in the state, the exit polls now predict BJP getting more than 100 seats with some exit polls even predicting a BJP win. While the BJP may not win, the number of seats they win might be enough to prevent TMC from winning with absolute majority which will definitely unsettle Mamata Banerjee. The exit polls data has been varying from one exit poll to another. Exit poll data has been gathered from the exit polls of Republic-CNX, India News Jan ki Baat, India TV’s People’s Pulse, TimesNow C Voter, ABP News C Voter, News24’s Today’s Chanakya and India Ahead’s ETG Research.
The national ruling NDA’s main force BJP’s national media in-charge Anil Bhaluni said the exit polls are an indication of the party’s strong performances “under the leadership of Narendra Modi will regain power in Assam, is all set to form the government in West Bengal and Puducherry and will increase its support and voter base in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.”
The whole nation awaits with bated breath as the results will be announced on Sunday, all the while there is an ongoing medical crisis in the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Stay indoors and stay safe.
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