BHUBANESWAR: The BJP’s success may not be restricted to only Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, the party is likely to make huge gains in the Assembly too, if the exit polls hold true.
The exit poll released by India Today-Axis My India on Sunday predicted a hung Assembly in Odisha by giving seats in the range of 62-80 for BJD and BJP each. The poll has also predicted 42 per cent vote share for both the parties. The Congress may bag just 5-8 seats and its vote share could drop to 12 per cent, as per the forecast.
Another pollster Jan Ki Baat has predicted 58 seats (+-14) for BJP while the ruling BJD is projected to get 81 (+-12). The Congress tally will be 8 (+-2 ). The vote share of BJD will be around 44 per cent with one per cent error of margin compared to 44.71 per cent in 2019.
The BJP’s performance will improve substantially with the party getting 42 per cent of the votes with one per cent margin of error. It will be a huge jump of 9.5 per cent for the saffron party. The Congress vote share is predicted to drop to 10 per cent while others will garner only two per cent of the votes, the exit poll stated.
The BJD had won 112 seats in 2019 with a vote share of 44.71 per cent. The BJP had got 32.49 per cent of votes with 23 seats. The Congress share was 16.12 per cent with nine seats. The number of seats of BJD had increased to 113 while that of BJP dropped to 22 seats following the bypoll in Balasore.
However, the BJD claimed that these projections will be proven after counting of votes on June 4. National spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra said, “Such projections had proved wrong in 2014 and 2019 elections. This time also they will be wrong,” he said.
Claims of big gains for BJP in exit polls false: BJD
Stating that BJD has conducted its own surveys and assessment, Patra asserted that the party will win at least 12 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state. “The BJD will actually start from 12 seats. Besides, the party will also win 117 Assembly seats and form the next government,” he said.
According to an internal survey of the BJD, the party will win 117 seats out of 147 while BJP will get 11. Congress and others will get three seats. However, the party has predicted close fight in 16 Assembly seats.