Saffron surge may sink Oppn coalition
NEW DELHI: One state on which all exit polls agree is Bihar. All predict a complete sweep for chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and their allies over the Mahagatbandhan led by the Rasjtriya Janata Dal and the Congress.
News24-Today’s Chanakya and India TV-CNX said, of the 40 seats, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) could win 32. ABP News-Nielsen, which gave among the lowest numbers to the BJP and the NDA at the national level, expected the alliance to win 34 in the state. The India Today-Axis poll had the best news for the NDA, and said it could win all but two of the seats.
If the numbers hold, they will be a major relief for the state’s ruling BJP-JD(U) alliance. There has been speculation that the JD(U) (which fought as many seats as the BJP, 17) could have caused some losses to the alliance although leaders have been banking on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We respect the numbers... Although results will come on May 23, the numbers projected for the NDA clearly show that the people of India have voted for the nation and nationalism. We are confident the NDA will cross the 350 mark,” said Ajay Alok, JD(U) spokesperson.
“The projections of the exit polls give a clear mandate to the NDA as an endorsement of PM Modi’s policies on national security and development,” said BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand.
If they hold, the numbers could prove a major setback to former deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav, who led the RJD into the election in the absence of his father Lalu Prasad who is in jail. The JD(U) and the RJD fought the 2015 state elections together, and won against the BJP, but the JD(U) dumped the RJD last year in favour of the BJP. The RJD was hoping that move could hurt the NDA, but the exit polls suggest it hasn’t.
“While we have huge doubts about the all-India figures allocated to BJP/NDA, I am baffled by the Bihar numbers for our alliance. We can only affirm with conviction that these pollsters shall be proved wrong again as was the case in the 2015 assembly elections,’’ said RJD’s Manoj Jha.
Bihar Congress spokesperson Harkhu Jha dismissed the surveys, saying, “Ours (our polls) have the assessment based on the field workers’ feedback, which clearly states that the Congress would do considerably well.”