Soon after the exit poll results for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 were released, political strategist Prashant Kishor on Saturday took a dig at “fake journalists and loudmouth politicians” and asked the public not to waste time on “idle discussions” and “analyses”.
The exit polls on Saturday, June 1, predicted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will remain in power for the third consecutive term, while the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA is expected to win a massive majority in the general elections.
“Next time when it comes to elections and politics, don’t waste your precious time on useless discussions and analyses of useless fake journalists, loudmouth politicians and self-proclaimed social media experts,” Prashant Kishor wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The Jan Suraj Party chief is claiming that the BJP may win 303 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which is the number of seats the party won in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, or slightly more than that.
Hours before the exit poll 2024 results were released, Prashant Kishor reiterated his prediction on the BJP-led NDA’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections in an interview to The Print.
“As per my assessment, the BJP is going to come back with the same or slightly better numbers. In western and northern India, I don’t see any significant change in the number of seats. The party has got enough support from the eastern and southern regions of India,” Prashant Kishor said in the interview.
Exit Poll 2024: Voting ends for 7 phases of elections, election results to be declared on June 4
Prashant Kishor also suggested a possible increase in the number of seats and vote share of the BJP in eastern and southern states. He said the party’s increased efforts to strengthen its presence in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are expected to benefit due to the relative unfamiliarity of voters in these regions with the BJP.
Several exit polls have predicted that the NDA will, in all likelihood, open its account in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and win Karnataka, but may see a drop in its seat tally in states such as Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Haryana, while Uttar Pradesh is expected to remain a BJP stronghold.
What the 2024 exit polls have predicted
While India Today-Axis My India has predicted 361-401 seats for the BJP-led NDA and 131-166 seats for the opposition Bharat Bloc in the 543-member Lok Sabha, ABP-C Voter has predicted 353-383 seats for the ruling alliance and 152-182 seats for the Bharat Bloc.
Today’s Chanakya has projected much higher numbers for the BJP and its alliances compared to the 2019 poll. It predicted 335 seats for the BJP and 400 seats for the NDA, with a margin of 15 seats on either side. It gave the opposition alliance 107 seats, while its numbers could go up or down by 11 seats.
The BJP had given the slogan ‘400 Paar’ for its alliance in the Lok Sabha elections.
The Times Now-ETG Research exit poll gave the NDA and India Bloc 358 and 152 seats respectively.
Several pollsters said the NDA could cross the 2019 tally of 353 seats. The BJP had won 303 seats in the election. The Congress got 53 and its allies 38.
The opposition parties had formed the ‘India’ bloc to take on the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections.
News18 had predicted the BJP alone would get 306-315 seats while its alliance would get 355-370 seats. It had given the opposition alliance 125-140 seats.
India Today-Axis My India has projected 322-340 seats for the BJP, 60-76 seats for the Congress and 71-90 seats for Congress allies. The Republic TV-P Mark poll has claimed that the ruling alliance will win 359 seats and the opposition India Bloc will win 154 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha