Exit polls: BJP likely to sweep Gujarat, edge past in Himachal
The BJP is set to sweep Gujarat, with the Congress as a distant second, and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will finish third, predicted an aggregate of exit polls by NDTV. The BJP is also likely to win a record second consecutive term in Himachal Pradesh, the polls say.
The poll of exit polls gives the BJP 131 of 182 seats in Gujarat and the Congress and its allies 41. The Congress’s tally will drop significantly since 2017, when it stopped the BJP from winning more than 100 seats.
In Himachal Pradesh, the aggregate of exit polls predicts 37 of 68 seats for the BJP – barely past the majority mark – with the Congress close behind at 30 seats.
Thumping win for BJP in Gujarat
In the 182-seat Gujarat assembly, which saw 93 of its constituencies going to polls on Monday in the second and final phase, Republic TV P-MARQ exit poll gave the BJP the maximum 128-148 seats with the Congress far behind with 30-42 seats. AAP was predicted to win 2-10 seats by the Republic TV-P-MARQ exit poll and others 0-3 seats.
News X-Jan Ki Baat exit poll gave the BJP 117-140 seats, the Congress 34-51 seats and the AAP 6-13 seats. Others were predicted to win 1-2 seats.
TV9 Gujarati too gave BJP a thumping majority, predicting 125-130 seats for the saffron party. Congress with 40-50 seats, AAP with 3-5 seats and Others with 3-7 seats rounded the list.
Edge to BJP in Himachal
As far as Himachal Pradesh was concerned, all the exit polls gave a thin victory margin to the BJP with the Congress close behind. AAP, according to the exit polls, has failed to make an impact. While India TV gave 35-40 seats to the BJP as did Zee News-BARC, News X-Jan Ki Baat predicted 32-40 seats, Republic TV P-MARQ 34-39 seats and Times Now-ETG 34-42 seats.
The Congress was predicted to win 26-31 seats by India TV, 27-34 seats by News X-Jan Ki Baat, 28-33 by Republic TV P-MARQ, 24-32 by Times Now-ETG and 20-25 by Zee News-BARC.
Maximum number of seats, 0-3, for AAP were predicted by India TV and Zee News-BARC while News X-Jan Ki Baat gave 0 seats to the party. Republic TV P-MARQ gave 0-1 seats to AAP.
(With Agency inputs)
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