Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 30 (PTI) CPI(M) General Secretary M A Baby on Thursday urged caution over exit poll projections, saying the actual electoral picture would emerge only when votes are counted.
The Kerala Assembly elections were held on April 9, with results for all 140 constituencies to be declared on May 4.
Maintaining that the Left remained hopeful despite some surveys projecting an edge for rivals, Baby said exit poll trends had gone wrong in previous elections and should not be treated as conclusive.
The party is contesting key elections in Kerala and West Bengal, besides being in the fray in Assam and Tamil Nadu.
“I will keep my fingers crossed till May 4 afternoon to see whether the exit polls reflect the actual result. We have to wait and see,” he told PTI Videos.
Recalling the 2021 Kerala Assembly elections, he said most surveys had predicted a narrow LDF victory, but the front eventually won 99 seats.
He said the discrepancy highlighted the limitations of sample-based surveys and suggested that the Left remained in contention despite some projections giving the UDF a slight edge in Kerala.
On leadership issues in the party in Kerala, Baby said the CPI(M) would take decisions on future roles only after the election results are declared.
Referring to Tamil Nadu, Baby said exit polls indicated an advantage for the DMK-led alliance and expressed confidence that Left-backed formations would perform strongly.
In West Bengal, Baby criticised the electoral process, alleging that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise was “utterly lawless and anti-constitutional”.
Citing the alleged difficulty faced by Suprabuddha Sen, grandson of noted artist Nandalal Bose, in securing voting rights, he claimed the democratic process was being “strangled”.
Comparing the prevailing atmosphere to the 1972 West Bengal Assembly elections, Baby alleged that high polling percentages could reflect manipulation under a “military raj”-like environment.
He also accused Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of attempting to “divide voters along communal lines.” On the Uniform Civil Code, he said that while the concept is mentioned in the Directive Principles of the Constitution, it is not justiciable and should not be imposed without wider democratic consultation.
He added that excluding the Northeast from such proposals highlighted the need for broader consensus before implementing any such policy. PTI NDN TBA SSK
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