Exit polls announced on Saturday evening forecast a decisive victory for the DMK alliance in Tamil Nadu, although not a complete sweep as some India bloc leaders had claimed. The polls also suggest that the BJP is making notable inroads in the state, with the Dravidian major AIADMK potentially being relegated to the third position.
Most exit polls project that the DMK alliance will secure 33-36 Lok Sabha seats, AIADMK will win 0-2 seats, and the BJP bloc will capture 1-3 seats. India Today-Axis My India and CNN-News18 exit polls forecast the BJP winning 1-3 seats, with other media outlets offering similar predictions. Pradeep Gupta, chairman of Axis My India, highlighted the BJP’s potential significant inroads in the southern constituencies of Tirunelveli and Tenkasi.
DMK Dismisses BJP Prospects
The DMK has rejected the exit poll results, particularly the forecast for Tamil Nadu. India bloc workers circulated previous election exit poll surveys on social media to underscore past inaccuracies, alleging that national media houses had succumbed to BJP pressure and produced biased predictions.
“The exit polls are entirely hypothetical. From my field experience, I see no scope for the saffron party in the state,” DMK spokesperson J Constantine Ravindran told TNIE. He added that only leaders who switched from Dravidian parties to the BJP, such as Nainar Nagendran, and those like O Panneerselvam and TTV Dhinakaran, might garner significant votes, but none are expected to win.
A senior DMK leader, speaking anonymously, recalled that in the 2019 election, some surveys predicted that the AIADMK-led alliance would win 15-20 seats, but they secured only one.
BJP’s Rising Optimism
The exit poll forecasts have bolstered the confidence of the BJP, with party members anticipating a positive outcome in Tamil Nadu that could surprise the Dravidian majors. Following the exit poll predictions, BJP cadres in the state celebrated, sharing screenshots of the results and congratulating each other.
BJP’s state vice-president Narayanan Thirupathy commented on the exit poll outcome, telling TNIE, “It is their opinion, but we expect to win 8-12 seats, and our vote share will increase significantly compared to previous elections.” He mentioned potential victories in constituencies such as Tiruchy, Coimbatore, Kanniyakumari, Theni, Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Vellore, and Dharmapuri.
Despite multiple attempts by TNIE, AIADMK leaders were unavailable for comment on the exit poll results.
Background and Context
Polling for the 60 assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh and 32 assembly seats in Sikkim was conducted on April 19, alongside the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. In the 2019 Assembly elections, the BJP won 41 seats in Arunachal Pradesh, while the SKM secured 17 seats in Sikkim. The exit polls predict that both ruling parties will retain power in their respective states.