Pollsters contradict TRS claims, predict Etala's win

HYDERABAD: Several poll management agencies and survey teams predicted a comfortable win for Etala Rajendar, former minister and BJP candidate, in the Huzurabad Assembly constituency which went for bypoll on Saturday.

Much to the shock of the ruling party, a majority of voters did not hesitate to reveal their choice after coming out of polling booths in an election that is considered most expensive so far with the two main rivals – the TRS, whose campaign was spearheaded by finance minister T Harish Rao and the BJP's Rajendar, whose unceremonious ouster by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao from the Cabinet finally led to the bypoll – spending hundreds of crores of rupees.

In an hitherto unheard-of practice, parties distributed as much as Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000 per vote in several places and yet the beneficiaries, the electorate, openly shared their choice with the pollsters. At one stage, the ruling party camp sought to maintain that it was part of the poll strategy to create hype over the BJP’s chances though silent vote was cast in favour of the TRS candidate.

Mission Chanakya, a city-based poll management firm, which has been accurately predicting poll outcomes for the last several years, announced its exit poll result according to which Rajendar would win with almost 19 per cent margin by securing 55.68 per cent votes against the nearest rival belonging to the TRS who is predicted to end up with 36.56 per cent. The Congress’ share will be less than five per cent, it said.

Mission Chanakya, headed by Shivakeshav Amuka, a former journalist, hit the bull’s eye in predicting 2018 Assembly polls, the GHMC elections, the Dubbak and the Nagarjunasagar bypolls. It even predicted a 19,000-vote margin for the TRS candidate in the recent Sagar bypoll.

“The ruling party’s overall credibility has been on a downslide and the fall is rapid,” said Shivakeshav whose company was also engaged by Rajendar for poll strategy. The agency claimed to have worked on the 20,000-odd voter sample and the margin of error it suggested was as low as three per cent.

According to Mission Chanakya, women supported Rajendar in large numbers and Dalit Bandhu did not fully help the TRS while it consolidated vote among the rest of the communities in favour of the BJP candidate.

Political Laboratory, another agency, predicted around a 23,000-vote margin for Rajendar who it said would be ahead of the TRS in all mandals except Illendukunta. It, however, said that the alleged distribution of money to the committed voters by the TRS might cause anxiety to the BJP candidate.

Kautilya Solutions, in its exit poll, predicted a margin of about 13,000 votes for Rajendar who it said would secure 47 per cent vote and the TRS 40 per cent.

Hyderabad-based Atmasakshi group said Rajendar would get 50.5 per cent vote against 43.1 per cent vote of the TRS candidate Srinivas Yadav. Anti-incumbency, mess up with Dalit Bandhu, image of Rajendar, unrest among unemployed youth and massive support of women voters help him win with a margin of 10,000 to 12,000 votes.