Comments
Exit polls at the end of voting on Wednesday for the Maharashtra and Haryana Assemblies predicted a repeat of the Lok Sabha trends that resulted in a decimation of the Congress and ascendance of the BJP.
While most polls forecast a simple majority for the BJP in Haryana, the pollsters’ verdict was a trifle varied for Maharashtra. Only News 24-Today’s Chanakya poll predicted a simple majority for the BJP in the western State with 151 seats in the 288-member assembly. All the other polls said the BJP will emerge as the single largest party but will remain short of a simple majority.
The ABP-Nielson poll gave the BJP 122 seats in Maharashtra while the Times Now-C Voter predicted 129 seats for the party in the State. The India News-Axis poll gave 103 seats for the BJP in the State.
The polls were more unanimous in the case of Haryana, where most predicted a simple majority for the BJP.
Today’s Chanakya poll gave a whopping 53 seats to the BJP in the 90-member Haryana Assembly while the ABP-Nielson poll predicted 46 seats for the party, just above the half-way mark. The Times Now-C voter poll predicted 37 seats for the BJP in Haryana.
Clean sweepAccording to highly placed BJP sources, the clean sweep for the party in Haryana is largely due to the “consolidation of non-Jat voters in our favour”.
While the Jats, the dominant caste group in the northern State, were perceived to have gravitated towards Om Prakash Chautala-led Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), all other castes — Dalits, Brahmins, Gujjars, Yadavs and OBCs — were said to have shifted to the BJP. According to Today’s Chanakya poll, the State polled 32 per cent votes for the BJP while the INLD scored 26 per cent. Chautala’s conviction and incarceration in a scam in the recruitment of teachers is believed to have generated sympathy in his favour among the Jats who constitute roughly 27 per cent of the electorate.
However, the rise in his fortunes seemed to have pushed the other castes, significantly even the Dalits who constitute about 19 per cent of the voter base, towards the BJP. Significantly, in both the States, it was not the Congress that emerged as the largest opposition group. In Haryana, the INLD was predicted to be the largest opposition party while in Maharashtra, it was the Shiv Sena.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.