NEW DELHI: Reacting to the results of exit polls for the elections to five state Assemblies, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday said the exit polls and polls surveys are all ‘bogus’ as they are conducted to improve Television Rating Point (TRP).
“Exit polls, polls surveys they are all false. And all these frauds are conducted to improve their TRPs therefore I don’t subscribe to any of these surveys. I never paid attention to them and neither will I give them attention. Wait till the results are out only then I can say,” Singh told ANI.
A day after exit polls predicted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) having an upper hand in four of the five states which went to polls, leaders of various political parties are busy taking the sting out of the projections saying exit polls are not always reliable.
However the BJP said all exit polls are indicating Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's exit, and added the latter should be given an opportunity to be happy for one more day.
"Tell Rahul Gandhi that many exit polls were shown earlier but this time the predictions are indicating only Rahul Gandhi's exit," BJP leader Kiran Kher told ANI.
BJP leader and Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan also ridiculed Gandhi and said, "Let Rahul Gandhi remain happy for one more day. We should give him this opportunity to live in this misunderstanding for one more day as it will all be clear by tomorrow after the result declaration."
The exit polls had indicated the BJP had a clear lead over other parties in the state even as one of them predicted 285 seats for the saffron party.
In Uttar Pradesh, where five polls — India News MRC, Times Now VMR, ABP Lokniti CSDS, India TV-C Voter and India Today Axis — showed the BJP as leading the race, the saffron party’s projected tally varied from 155 to 279 seats. The SP-Congress tally varied from 88 to 169 seats, while the BSP was shown winning just between 28 and 93 seats.
Elaborate arrangements and heavy security are in place for today's crucial counting of votes for Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur Assembly Elections.
The counting will start at 8 in the morning and firstly, all the postal ballots will be counted.
The Election Commission (EC) has issued guidelines on security arrangements for counting of votes, and has also set up facilities for disseminating trends and results of elections of five assemblies.