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Exit polls can't be relied upon and "there were several occasions in the past when they went wrong" and "there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Telugu Desam Party will be voted back to power in the state," Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP leader, N. Chandrababu Naidu, has said.
While interacting with the media on Monday afternoon, he made the above comment on the exit poll results telecast by various Telugu, English and Hindi channels. Most of them have predicted a comfortable win for the opposition YSR Congress Party, both in the state assembly polls and general elections held on April 11 in the state.
The Chief Minister said, "Surveys are not new to the TDP. We have been conducting surveys internally in our party for the past 33 years. I can cite several examples in the past when the so-called pollsters got it completely wrong and our assessment proved right. But I don't want to dwell further on the subject. I am 100 per cent, nay, even 1,000 per cent certain, that we will be back." He exhorted the TDP cadres, sympathisers and the general public not to lose heart over the exit poll results.
He reiterated that even at the national level, the non-BJP regional parties plus the Congress will get greater numbers. "Okay, let them play these mind games. We will see on the day of reckoning," he added.
He also reiterated his demand for the counting of 100 per cent VVPATs and said "the counting process should be transparent, credible and trustworthy. It is the responsibility of the Election Commission of India to ensure that. It should not, cannot, function in a partisan manner, ignoring all the complaints and pleas made by the Opposition parties and acting promptly, even on the frivolous complaints made by the ruling party and its allies." The independent functioning of institutions should be safeguarded to save democracy in the country.
Ridiculing the Chief Minister in a message posted on twitter, Vijayasai Reddy, a key YSR Congress leader and close aide of Y.S Jaganmohan Reddy, said, "Our great Chief Minister refuses to see the writing on the wall. While most of the Opposition parties are upset with the exit polls published on Monday and trying to come to terms with it, our man goes here, there and everywhere trying to unite the Opposition parties. He is being derisively described as "Fevicol Baba" in Delhi circles. But he is undaunted."
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