Exit polls create confusion at chai charcha

Nagpur: With 24 hours to go for Lok Sabha election results to be out, the city is abuzz with people really surprised and confused by the exit poll outcome by various agencies and electronic media. The expectancy was of a hung parliament but the exit polls have shown Narendra Modi and NDA coming back to power for the second time.
“All the chemistry and arithmetic has changed with the exit polls. After April 11, there were talks that BJP’s Nitin Gadkari might find it tough to retain his seat. But now exit polls have predicted a comfortable win for the BJP stalwart. Now the debate at the tapri is if the exit polls are true,” said Amar Nagpal, a trader from Itwari.
“The exit polls have predicted majority for BJP and its allies. I’m surprised the same channels declared it would be a hung parliament. Exit polls are not always reliable and in 2004 were wrong in their prediction of a BJP win,” said Kishore Belsare, a Congress supporter.
Buoyed by the exit poll results, BJP supporters are claiming the outcome is perfect and shows the mood of voters during electioneering. However, Congress supporters claim the exit polls are calculated based on few samples which are extrapolated.
“If BJP is not going to gain much in southern states, barring Karnataka, it will also suffer a setback in Uttar Pradesh due to SP-BSP alliance, so from where are the seats coming for the saffron party. No one has the exact prediction about who has voted for whom. It is better to wait for 24 hours when picture will be clear,” said social worker Ghanshyam Mehta.
“Take for example the high-profile Nagpur seat. Congress supporters claim Halbas and Kunbis voted for Nana Patole but many voters from both the communities said they did not vote for Patole. So, it is complete hotchpotch. We should wait for final results,” said BW Hedau, a Halba community leader.
On the contrary, many are sure of Gadkari win. “Gadkari will win by over 2 lakh votes and it is certain that Narendra Modi will form next government. The reason being that 18% of the voters added to the voting list are youth who want development. So, 90% of them voted for the BJP,” said financial adviser Mahendra Sheth.
“Even if Patole made loud noise about his victory, Gadkari was hot favourite for various development works he took up in the city. Initially, unemployment and trading community anger were issues but when it came to nationalism, voters thought Modi was better than Rahul Gandhi,” says Ramesh Udepurkar of Pulak Jan Chetna Manch.
“This was also obvious from air strikes against Pakistan and immediate release of IAF pilot Abhinandan Vartaman. Besides, Modi was also instrumental in listing Pakistan-based Masood Azhar as global terrorist,” said Prashant Manekar, a BJP minority front leader.