Didi Dismisses Exit Polls as Fake

Kolkata: Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Sunday described the exit polls as “fake” after most surveys gave her party less than the 22 Lok Sabha seats it had won among 42 in West Bengal in 2019.

The chief minister also refused to predict the number of seats her party would win this time and pointed out that no one would have a big majority to come to power at the Centre after June 4.

She told a Bengali news channel: “I saw the exit polls in 2016, 2019 and 2021 but couldn't find it real. The BJP creates them and feeds them to the media. This time also, the exit polls were made two months ago by a BJP company. I am aware of this.”

Ms Banerjee said: “So, I don't accept such media calculations and believe in it. It is absolutely fake. I ask my party workers to stay strong and supervise the counting well. If anything happens, in case we don't get double the number of seats the media has predicted, we will sort it out. But I will not mention now the number of seats we will win.”

On the performance of INDIA, she added: “I can't talk about other states because I didn't go there. But I hope Akhilesh, Uddhav, Tejashwi and Stalin do well on their turf. Whatever he the results, no one will be able to come to power with a huge majority.”

Asked about the possibility of playing an active role in the anti-BJP bloc, the TMC chief observed: “There will be no obstructions if the CPI(M) doesn't interfere. Everything is fine with INDIA (bloc). It is going well. I support it also. But the CPI(M) monitors it. Why will they always act as its spokesperson?”

She argued: “Alliance means taking everyone together and not doing anything single-handedly and forcibly. If there is a chance we can discuss to go ahead. Let us see the results first. We also have mathematics and will try to reach out to other regional parties.”