Opposition glows as BJP’S chances dim in state polls
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party is likely to lose two heartland states while a third is too close to call, exit polls showed on Friday in the final test of popularity before a national election due by May next year.
Surveys broadcast at the end of voting for five state assemblies showed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trailing behind the rival Congress party in some areas.
The actual votes will be counted on Tuesday, and exit polls have been wrong in the past, partly because of the sheer scale of Indian elections involving millions of votes.
Still, nearly all the polls showed that the Congress - led by Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehrugandhi family - will win a clear majority in western Rajasthan state and scrape through in eastern Chhattisgarh, according a survey of surveys pulled together by NDTV.
In Madhya Pradesh, the same polls suggested the BJP and the Congress were locked in a fight down to the wire.
The combined surveys showed the BJP winning 110 seats, the Congress 108, and smaller groups 12 in the 230-member house. To rule, a party requires 116 seats.
The three states are part of the northern Hindi belt, a bastion of the ruling Hindu nationalists.
“The BJP is struggling everywhere, for all its bravado,” said Juhi Singh, a spokesman of the regional Samajwadi Party.
HYDERABAD: About 70 per cent of 2.8 voters votes in the Telangana Assembly election on Friday as the polling ended on a peaceful note, barring minor incidents.
Polling ended in 106 constituencies at 5 p.m. but those standing in queues were allowed to cast their votes. The exact poll percentage will be known after receipt of detailed reports from the districts, oficials said in Hyderabad.
Some 56.17 per cent voters had voted by 3 p.m.
Polling ended in 13 constituencies affected by Maoist violence at 4 p.m, This is the irst full-ledged election in India’s youngest election. In the 2014 elections held in united Andhra Pradesh, Telangana had registered a voter turnout of 68.9 per cent.
The polling, which began on a dull note at 7 a.m., picked up after 9. Long queues of voters including women were seen especially in rural areas.
Chief Electoral Oficer Rajath Kumar said barring sporadic incidents, the polling was peaceful and smooth in all 32,815 polling stations across 31 districts.
In some polling centres, the process started late due to technical glitches in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMS).
Of the total electorate, nearly half are women. There were 1,821 candidates, including Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and his 14 cabinet colleagues.
Congress candidate Vamshichand Reddy was injured in stone pelting by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Nagarkurnool district. He was admitted to a hospital.
Tension prevailed in Kodangal constituency where the midnight arrest of Congress Working Ptesident Revanth Reddy on December 4 had triggered a huge row, leading to transfer of Vikarabad District Superintendent of Police by the Election Commission.
Voters at several places complained that their names were missing from the voters’ list. Some voters staged protests after oficials did not allow them to exercise their franchise in the absence of voter slips.
Prominent people whose names were missing from the voter’s list include family members of Finance Minister E. Rajender. Shuttler Jwala Gutta tweeted that her name was missing from the list.
Many celebrities including superstar Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Junior NTR, tennis star Sania Mirza and ace shuttler P.V. Sindhu voted but this failed to enthuse the voters as overall turnout remained less than 40 per cent by 3 p.m.