Refusing to give “an opinion on opinion polls”, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi who is very much hopeful, rejected the various exit polls that gave the BJP a clear lead in Uttar Pradesh and claimed his alliance with the Samajwadi Party is winning the state with clear majority.
Counting of votes will be on Saturday in UP as well as four other states where polls have been conducted in various phases.
“I’m not giving any opinion on the opinion polls,” Rahul Gandhi said.
“Our alliance is winning and such exit polls we saw in Bihar also. We will talk about it on counting day when the results will be declared,” Gandhi said.
Earlier in the day, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ram Gopal Yadav dubbed the prediction as nonsensical and added that they have been changed under pressure. “These exit polls are nonsensical. I have information that the original exit polls were changed under pressure by channels few days back,” Ram Gopal Yadav said.
In Bihar two years ago, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was re-elected, leading a “grand alliance” with Lalu Yadav’s RJD and the Congress to a big victory. Many exit polls had predicted a BJP win, but the party came in a distant number two.
One of the TV channels had even called the election in favour of the saffron party, only to retract itself later when the Mahagatbandhan of the Janata Dal-United, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress had swept the state.
However, a poll of exit polls shows that Uttar Pradesh is likely to get a hung Assembly with the BJP at the head of a splintered verdict. The votes will be counted from 8 am onwards on Saturday.
