Exit polls dash heartland hope for Congress
Politics

Exit polls dash heartland hope for Congress

Exit polls predict a BJP sweep in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, the 3 states Congress won in last year’s assembly elections.

   
Rahul Gandhi and senior Congress leaders protest outside the parliament | Paveen Jain/ThePrint

File photo of Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi | Paveen Jain/ThePrint

New Delhi: In a setback for the Congress, exit polls have predicted a convincing victory for the BJP in the three states — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — that it had won in the assembly elections held just last December.

According to the NDTV Poll of Polls, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is likely to get 22 of the 25 seats in Rajasthan, 23 of the 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh and 7 of the 11 seats in Chhattisgarh.

The Congress is predicted to gain three seats in Rajasthan — it had lost all 25 in 2014 — and improve its tally in Madhya Pradesh, from four in 2014 to six, but that is little solace for a party that was expecting to carry the momentum that it had got last December.

If exit polls hold true, the opposition party will have more reasons to be disappointed in Chhattisgarh where it had swept the assembly elections, forcing the BJP to replace all of its incumbent MPs. The exit polls suggest that the assembly election results could have reflected anti-incumbency against BJP-led state governments and not against Narendra Modi and his government’s policies at the Centre.

Given that the Congress governments in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are in a minority in the assembly, Lok Sabha results could also put a question mark on their longevity if exit polls were to hold true.

The Congress campaigned extensively in these three states, with party president Rahul Gandhi making sure they were part of his poll itinerary, and using his speeches to play up the “good governance” in these states since coming to power. The party had promised loan waivers to farmers and after winning the three states it had implemented them.


Also read: Akhilesh, Mayawati to dent BJP numbers in UP, but not as much as expected


Madhya Pradesh

In the 2018 assembly elections, Congress had won Madhya Pradesh putting an end to the 15-year BJP government. Even in the assembly elections, however, the BJP had lost the elections by a whisker, with the Congress bagging 114 seats and missing a majority mark by just two seats in the 230-member state assembly.

While the NDTV Poll of Polls showed a slight improvement in the Congress’ tally in the state compared to its 2014 performance, one of the pollsters — News24-Chanakya — predicted no gains for the party with the BJP likely to get 27 of the 29 seats. The Congress had sought to put its best foot forward in Madhya Pradesh by fielding senior leaders such as former chief minister Digvijaya Singh in the Lok Sabha elections.

Rajasthan

As suggested by the NDTV poll of polls, the BJP’s loss in the Rajasthan assembly elections might have reflected people’s anger against the Vasundhara Raje government as opposed to a dip in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity in the desert state. In the assembly polls, the Congress had won 99 seats, falling short of the majority mark by two seats in 200-member assembly. 73

Chhattisgarh

The BJP had received a huge setback in Chhattisgarh in the last assembly elections, having been reduced to 15 seats while the Congress won 68 in the 90-member assembly. Given that the BJP had been routed in the state just five months back, its predicted comeback in the Lok Sabha elections could come as a huge blow to the Congress.


Also read: Exit polls show BJP-Shiv Sena set to win Maharashtra again, but with fewer seats than 2014


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