New Delhi: After exit polls predicted a third straight win for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor dismissed the results as laughable, asserting that the INDIA bloc will secure 295 seats.
"We view these exit polls with skepticism and disbelief because we have campaigned extensively across the country and have a sense of the people's pulse, which we believe is not accurately reflected in these polls. Our Congress president, after meeting all the INDIA bloc members, is convinced that we will get about 295 seats for the alliance. I stick to that number," Tharoor told reporters on Monday.
Tharoor criticized the exit polls, especially their prediction of the BJP winning up to seven seats in Kerala. "If any exit poll can say that the BJP will win up to 7 seats in Kerala - either they are suffering from heatstroke or they don't understand Kerala. Some of these exit polls are also laughable for other reasons. I don't think we should take them seriously," he added.
The Congress MP emphasized that there was no visible wave for the BJP. "I am perfectly aware that Thiruvananthapuram is the BJP's strongest constituency in Kerala, that on two occasions they have come second and therefore they are entirely capable of coming second again. But the possibility that they can actually win is, at the moment, a remote one because there has to be some basis for it. We have really looked all over the place, there was no wave...In a three-cornered contest, there has to be nonetheless either a perception of what exactly the constituency is lacking in its present arrangement for a major anti-incumbency to occur or there has to be a perception that there is something really wonderful about the alternative...I can tell you that none of us have seen anything that will justify any concern on our part. We are quite relaxed going into tomorrow's counting," he said.
Tharoor expressed confidence that the exit poll numbers will be proven wrong. "Not just Thiruvananthapuram, I am also 100 percent confident that the numbers you have all seen in the exit polls for the nationwide picture will also be belied tomorrow," he said.
Exit polls have predicted a hat-trick win for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Lok Sabha polls with a massive majority. Some polls indicated that the ruling party at the Centre would improve its performance in several states governed by other parties.
A few exit polls suggested that the BJP-led NDA could reach the goal of "400 paar" as stated by BJP leaders during the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. They predicted that the NDA is poised to improve its performance over its 2019 record when it won 352 seats, with two polls suggesting the BJP would increase its numbers from the 303 seats it secured in the 2019 elections.
The exit polls also forecast a significant rise in the NDA's vote share in Tamil Nadu, expecting it to reach 22 percent. According to the Axis My India exit poll, the BJP-led NDA is predicted to win 2-4 seats in Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, the INDIA bloc, which includes both the DMK and Congress, is expected to win 33-37 out of 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state. As the Narendra Modi-led BJP seeks a third term in power, the opposition INDIA bloc aims to wrest control by halting the BJP's momentum.
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