It has been an action-packed day in Telangana which saw polling in 119 seats amid stray incidents of violence and charges flying thick and fast between the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti and the Congress. By evening, the exit poll results showed just why the Telangana elections have created a buzz that has remained unmatched by any other state that went to polls over the last month.
As per most exit polls, the Congress may have made just enough gains in the state to outperform the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar-led party and dislodge it from power in India’s youngest state. The Congress, which ruled the undivided Andhra Pradesh before its bifurcation in 2013, entered the elections with all its might, determined to leave the setbacks it faced in 2014 and 2018 behind it.
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And the resilience may have paid off. According to exit poll data released after polling ended in the state Thursday evening, the Congress party is poised to win anywhere between 48-80 seats while the ruling BRS lags with predictions of winning seats in the 24-58 range. None of the seven prominent survey agencies that conducted exit polls in the state have placed the BRS ahead of Congress.
According to the TV9 Bharatvarsh-Polstrat exit poll, the Congress and BRS are locked in a close contest with predictions of winning 49-59 and 48-58 seats, respectively. As per the Republic TV-Matrize exit polls, Congress may win 58-68 seats, while the BRS is slated to win 46-56 seats. The News24-Today’s Chanakya exit poll suggests that the Congress may be headed for a landslide victory, winning 71 seats while the BRS is predicted to win 33 seats.
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ABP-CVoter shows the Congress winning 49-65 seats while the BRS is projected to win 38-54 seats. The Times Now-ETG survey shows Congress winning 60-70 seats and the BRS being limited to 37-45 seats.
The BRS, meanwhile, has dismissed the exit poll findings and claimed that the party will return to power in the state. I promise you, for those of you who are friends of BRS and want KCR to come back, I promise you on December 3 (counting day) we are coming back. We are coming back with anywhere above 70 seats,” BRS working president KT Rama Rao told news agency PTI.
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“This is an illogical exit poll. People are still voting. It is ridiculous of the Election Commission of India also basically to allow for exit polls at 5:30 pm when people are queuing up to vote till 9 pm. I think it’s very ludicrous. I’ve come here because I wanted to tell my party cadre that don’t believe this nonsense,” he added.