New Delhi: The exit polls have predicted a landslide victory for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in both the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly polls held on Monday. While most exit polls predicted a saffron tsunami, the TV9 Bharatvarsh poll indicated a hung Assembly in Haryana.
Going by the exit polls, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is expected to form the government in Maharashtra again, while in Haryana incumbent CM Manohar Lal Khattar will get a second term. Once elected, Shiv Sena’s Aditya Thackeray, who made his political debut by contesting his first election, is likely to get a major portfolio as he makes a start in governance.
In Maharashtra, the “Poll of Exit Polls” showed that the BJP-Sena alliance had a clear edge over their rivals Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, with 218 seats predicted for the ruling alliance in the 288-member Assembly.
The Congress-NCP is expected to get 57 seats, while others may get 13.
Interestingly, the BJP-Sena had contested the 2014 Assembly polls separately and later came together to form the government. But this time they had decided to be together from the beginning itself to avoid splitting of votes and giving the Congress-NCP alliance an advantage.
In Haryana too, the “Poll of Exit Polls” gave the BJP 66 seats in the Assembly of 90, while giving 14 to the Congress, two to the INLD and Akali Dal alliance and eight to others.
The results of these exit polls are a major blow to the Congress, which was hoping to revive its fortunes in the two states.
The party had hoped to encash on the brewing dissent among people over the economic slowdown and loss of jobs. However, while the BJP juggernaut apparently rolled on unhindered in both states, the Congress was bogged down by internal strife and factionalism.
The day started with a lukewarm response by voters with only 37.64 per cent turnout by 2 pm in Haryana and 30.91 per cent in Maharashtra. While it picked up marginally after lunch, the final voter turnout in Maharashtra remained at 55.45 per cent and in Haryana it was 61.92 per cent.
Besides the Assembly polls in the two states, there were bypolls in 51 Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats in 18 states, where the overall voter turnout was close to 57 per cent. The bypolls to the five Assembly constituencies in Kerala were marred by heavy rains, especially in Ernakulam, as voters waded through water-logged roads to exercise their franchise.
High voter turnout was reported in Khonsa West seat in Arunachal Pradesh (90 per cent), Naxal-hit Chitrakot in Chhattisgarh (74 per cent), Huzurnagar Telangana (84 per cent) and Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh (62 pet cent) per cent and Shella in Meghalaya (84.56 per cent). The votes will be counted on October 24.
