Dangal 2019: Countdown begins for exit polls

NEW DELHI: The mammoth seven-phased Lok Sabha elections are just a few hours away from a conclusion after an intense election battle fought over 38 days and the fate of the candidates and political parties gets sealed.

And now the countdown for the exit poll results of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will give an early indication of the results.

The hits and misses of exit poll results over the past few years tell us that it’s better to take these surveys with a pinch of salt. For more often than not, the predictions of even the most meticulous of pollsters are likely to wobble when confronted with the actual choice made by the ever-unpredictable voter.

In the exit polls — done by professional agencies contracted by media organizations — during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the numbers predicted turned out to be way off the mark.

The results data of Lok Sabha Elections exit poll can be released from 6.30pm onwards.

This time, News18.com and CNN-News18 by News18-IPSOS exit poll survey, the India Today Exit Poll conducted by Axis My India and other organizations, media groups, and survey firms will bring the much-awaited results much before the actual counting of votes.

The 2019 India Today-Axis My India Exit Poll surveyed nearly eight lakh people across all the 542 constituencies. The News18-IPSOS, the world’s top international pollster interviewed a total 1,21,542 voters from 199 parliamentary constituencies.

The 2014 elections brought Narendra Modi to power with a thunderous majority of 336 seats to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The BJP swept 282 of these 336 seats. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which made way for the NDA, was left adrift with a meager 60 seats.

The exit polls — a survey of voters conducted by the CNN-IBN-Lokniti-CSDS, India Today-Cicero, ABP-Nielsen and India TV-CVoter, NDTV-Hansa Research and CNN-IBN-CSDS were no help either.

The prediction that came the closest was one made by News 24-Chanakya, done on May 12, 2014, according to which the NDA was set for a huge victory with 326-354 seats and the UPA trailing at 61-79 seats. The survey predicted that the BJP would bag 277-305 seats.

With inputs from agencies