Hyderabad: Exit polls telecast by TV news channels unanimously predicted that the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti would be retaining power in the state, defeating the Congress-led four-party alliance.
The results will be declared on December 11. The average of all the exit poll projections stood at 76 for the TRS, 32 for the Congress, four for the BJP and seven for others. The Assembly has 119 seats and 60 is the halfway mark.
In 2014, the TRS had won 63 seats, and another 30 legislators — 13 from the TD, 11 Congress, YSRC, BSP and Independent — joined the treasury benches.
Many exit polls did not give a separate indication of the MIM which is supporting the TRS.
TRS president and caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has claimed that the ruling party would get 100 seats, while state Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy said the People’s Front would with between 75 and 85 seats.
The TRS has stated its welfare schemes — 450 according to the party — would see it home. The Opposition questions the implementation of the schemes. The TRS dissolved the Assembly six months in advance to get over the hurdles placed by the Opposition, it said. The party declared most of its candidates in September, giving them three months to campaign.
Axis My India predicted the TRS to win between 79 and 91 seats and the Congress Front 21 to 33 seats. It projected the BJP as winning 1-3 seats and the ‘others’ 4-7.
