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Exit polls predicting BJP victory are 'fake', claims Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday dismissed “fake” Indian exit polls predicting a clear election victory for his opponent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day before the scheduled release of results.
A slew of exit polls released after the world's largest election ended on Sunday projected that Modi and his allies would return to power with between 282 and 313 seats out of 543 in parliament.
“My dear Congress party workers. The next 24 hours are important. Stay alert and vigilant. Don't be afraid. You are fighting for the truth,” Gandhi, head of the Congress party, said on Twitter.
“Don't get disappointed by the propaganda of fake exit polls. Keep faith in yourself and the Congress party. Your hard work won't go to waste.” he wrote.
Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) welcomed the exit polls and Indian stock markets rose strongly on Monday, but exit polls in India are notoriously unreliable.
In 2004 exit polls predicted that Prime Minister Atal Vajpayee's BJP-led government would be re-elected but results showed the opposite, bringing a Congress-led alliance to power under Manmohan Singh.
In the last election in 2014, the BJP won 282 seats, the first time a party had won a majority on its own in 30 years. It then cobbled together an alliance with a commanding 334 seats.
Counting of the roughly 600 million votes cast was due to begin at 8:00 am (0230 GMT) on Thursday. If there is a clear trend this should be evident by around midday.
Comments (16) Closed
diverting public opinion
Mr.Rahul... Be Ready to accept defeat 2mrw at this time....
Rahul gandhi should retire from politics. He is the main reason of Congress losing the election
Tomorrow, by this time everything will be cleared.
Just wait few more hours, mandate will be known.
What else you expect him to say? Anyway not even single poll said congress will get majority.
Why to make fuss, even if they are fake? Wait a couple of days for concrete results to be announced
Exit polls are always fake but, over a million Electronic Vote Counting Machines that disappeared are still genuine and if they returned full of votes, they all definitely would be fake votes.
@M. Saeed, please keep your lies to yourself.
@M. Saeed, If you do not know about process then you should keep quite. All EVM are packed in front of candidates or their workers with machine number noted by both parties. How will you add new machines which is not there on both EC or candidates list? There are almost 10 exit poll results which are taken based on 5Lakh opinion by each and as per mr. intelligent all are lying. There are exit polls by News channels which are against BJP or pro Congress which are also predicting BJP win though with a little less seats than others.
@M. Saeed, How and from where in the world do you get such ideas that million EVM have disappeared. Place your right hand on your heart and repeat...All is well !! All is well !!
@M. Saeed, what?
@M. Saeed, Only you know and how?
Can you believe he had left or is leaving for England.Guess..On holidays. Modi on other hand had not taken a single days of holiday including festivals in his last 17 years. That is commitment.
@MG, "What else you expect him to say? Anyway not even single poll said congress will get majority."
Congress was contesting on only 230 seats - way less than that required for majority. The fate of this election was decided even before it was fought.
Respected Rahul ji....one one hand we have a PM who works even on Sundays. On other hand we have someone who works in his free time. On one hand we have a PM whose mother travels in auto rikshaw. On the other hand we have a Prince whose family roams in the most expensive car and private jets. On one hand, we have a PM who has brought development all over the country. On the other hand we have someone who hasn't done any work in his own constituency.
Tell us honestly did you really win because of EVMs? Forget about becoming a PM, it will be a miracle even if you win in your own constituency.