Exit polls predict advantage BJP in Rajasthan, MP; Cong gains in Telangana, retains Chhattisgarh; Mizoram heads for hung house
New Delhi/IBNS: As the voting for the assembly elections concluded in five states on Thursday evening, the exit polls have predicted an edge for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
While Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel seems like he will get to retain his job, his counterpart in Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot, might just lose this time, according to exit polls.
The biggest upsetting news this time could be for Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao whose Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has been in power since the inception of the state in 2014.
Three exit polls seem to be quite sure that the BRS will be replaced by the Congress in this election. A fourth is also giving Congress an edge.
Meanwhile, Mizoram might be heading for a hung house, as per the prepositions by two exit polls
Nine exit polls in Chhattisgarh predict a second term for the Congress, which has been banking on Bhupesh Baghel's report card for the last five years. The number of seats allotted to the party has been within the margin of the early 40s to mid-50s. The majority mark in the 90-seat state is 46.
According to the ABP News-C Voter, the Congress will bag 41-53 seats while the BJP will get 36-48 seats. Dainik Bhaskar gives 46-55 seats to Congress and 35-45 to BJP. India Today-Axis My India predicts 40-50 for Congress and 36-46 for BJP.
Neighbouring Madhya Pradesh doesn't seem promising for the Congress, which might not be able to unseat Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The BJP's three-time Chief Minister came to power yet again in 2020 despite a defeat in 2018, with the crossing over of Congress's Jyotiraditya Scindia and his 20-plus loyalists.
The most definitive verdict is from News24-Today's Chanakya, which gives the BJP 151 of the state's 230 seats, and the Congress 74. Others predict a tight race.
Rajasthan, which has been changing the government every 5 years since the early '90s, is sticking to the custom, overturning Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's high hope of bucking the trend.
Seven of nine exit polls have predicted a comfortable victory for the BJP -- only two give Congress the benefit of the doubt.
Most exit polls expect the BJP numbers to stay above 100 in the 200-member house. Though the election had taken place on 199 seats following the death of a Congress candidate, the majority mark was 101.
According to the ABP News-C Voter, the BJP will bag 94-114 while the Congress might retain 71-91. Dainik Bhaskar gave 98-105 seats to the BJP and 85-95 to the Congress. In contrast, India Today-Axis My India predicted 80-100 seats for BJP while 86-106to the Congress.
In Mizoram, only two of five exit polls predict that the BJP and its ally, the Mizo National Front, might win while the chances of hung house run high, with a multi-cornered contest that included the rising regional party Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) which projected a young face for the state's top job.
Votes for all five states will be counted on Sunday.
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