SRINAGAR/ NEW DELHI: In J&K, the exit predictions are not very different from what has been projected in the media reports during the elections and the campaigning: it’s likely to be a hung House with PDP emerging as the single largest party.
The C-Voter predicts 32 to 38 seats for the PDP in the 87-member J&K Assembly, with the ruling National Conference down to 8-14 seats and the Congress 4-10 seats. This is exactly how internal reports of the parties indicated.
Hours before the Exit polls started their predictions, polling took place in 16 constituencies of Jharkhand, spread over six districts -- Dumka, Godda, Sahebganj, Jamtara, Deoghar and Pakud in Santhal Pargana region.
Meanwhile, in J&K, voting took place in 20 Assembly constituencies mostly in the border districts of Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri in the fifth and final phase of this round.
Meanwhile, with the five-phased Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls drawing to a close on Saturday, indications are that no political party is likely to get a majority to form the next government,even as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is expected to emerge the single largest party.
And the 66 per cent turnout was the highest recorded in Assembly polls in the state in the last 25 years.
The four mainstream political parties -- the National Conference (NC), the Congress, the PDP and the BJP -- contested almost all the 87 Assembly seats but none of them was expected to get a majority (44 seats) to form the government on their own.
According to political observers, the PDP would perform well in the Valley, while the BJP, riding on Modi wave, was likely to do well in Jammu region.
The BJP’s mission 44+, according to them, is bound to fail. “The saffron party is unlikely to win any of the 46 seats in the Valley. It was looking for Habba Kadal constituency in downtown Srinagar, which has over 16,000 migrant Kashmiri Pandit voters, to open its account in the Valley. However, the migrant Pandits did not vote in large numbers,” they added.