Almost all of psephologists were bang on target in Gujarat where the BJP vanquished the initial fears of defeat and emerged a clear winner.The gang of psephologists may now heave a collective sigh of relief. After the goof-up in Bihar and Punjab Assembly elections, almost all of them were bang on target in Gujarat where the BJP vanquished the initial fears of defeat and emerged a clear winner.
Unlike the 2015 Bihar and 2017 Punjab polls when several of the forecasters could not see the obvious and talked in so many different voices that could even confuse tower of Babel, all exit polls predicted a clear BJP win in Gujarat this year.
As per the trends available now, the BJP is leading in 110 seats while the Congress has edge in 70. Shankarsinh Vaghela's Jan Vikalp Morcha is ahead in two constituencies.
The India Today-Axis exit poll had predicted 99-113 (average 106) seats for the ruling BJP, and 68-82 (average 75) seats for the Congress in the 182-member assembly.
The Times Now-VMR poll had pegged the numbers at 109 for the BJP, 70 for the Congress and 3 for 'others'. The Republic TV exit polls gave BJP 108 seats and 74 for the Congress.
The NewsX-CNX exit poll numbers had put the BJP at 115 and Congress at 65. Sahara Samay-CNX survey predicted 110-120 seats for BJP and 65-75 for Congress.
India Today's exit polls had also predicted a clean sweep for BJP in Himachal Pradesh with 47-55. According to the trends available at noon, the BJP is leading in 44 constituencies in the hill state while the Congress is ahead in 20.
During the Bihar battle, out of the six exit polls, News 24-Chanakya gave the BJP and its allies a tally of 155 in the 243-seat House and 83 for the Grand Alliance of the JD(U), RJD and Congress.
The News X-CNX predicted 130-140 seats for the Grand Alliance and a survey broadcast by ABP News gave it 130 seats.
Two other polls said the combine led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had an edge — C-Voter (112-132) and NewsNation (120-124).
However, the Grand Alliance led by Nitish Kumar had won 178 seats in 2015, something no psephologist had dared to hazard a guess.
In Punjab earlier this year, the India Today-Axis My India poll almost correctly predicted a clear majority for the Congress with 62-71 seats followed by the Aam Aadmi Party at 42-51 seats in 117-member House. The Times Now-VMR and CVoter India predicted victory for AAP with 61 and 59-67 seats respectively. The two exit polls predicted 48 and 41-49 seats for Congress and 7 and 5-13 seats for the SAD-BJP alliance respectively.
The final results showed a different picture with the Congress winning 77 seats, SAD-BJP alliance 18 and AAP-LIP 22.
Read more: Assembly poll results | As BJP races to power in Gujarat, PM Modi flashes victory sign | Video
