Patna (Bihar) [India], November 12 : Mahagathbandhan Chief Ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday dismissed exit polls predicting a victory for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Bihar elections, asserting that he neither lives in false optimism nor in misunderstanding.
Yadav, while addressing a press conference in Patna, emphasised that people were standing in long queues for voting and the polling procedure had not ended, exit polls had come predicting NDA's victory in the Bihar polls. He questioned the sample size and criteria of the survey, asserting that they had not been made public.
"Yesterday, people stood in long queues during voting, even until 6 or 7 in the evening. People patiently waited to cast their votes. And while voting was still going on, exit polls started coming out. We neither live in false optimism nor in misunderstanding (hum na survey mein khushfehmi mein rehte hai na galatfehmi mein rehte hai). These surveys are brought out merely to create a psychological impact -- to put pressure on the officials involved in the election process. If you ask any of those showing these surveys about the sample size, none of them can tell you. Neither the sample size nor the criteria of the survey have been made public," Tejashwi Yadav told reporters.
Furthermore, he noted that the Mahagathbandhan collected feedback from the people following the completion of the voting procedure, emphasising the need to achieve even better results than those of the 1995 Bihar state elections. Tejashwi also reiterated his earlier announcement of taking oath as Chief Minister on November 18, asserting that people have voted in large numbers against the NDA government, citing the inevitable change in state regime.
"After the election ended, we collected feedback from people, and the information we received has been extremely positive. In the past, such positive feedback never used to come. You can say that the feedback we received this time is even better than what we got during the 1995 elections. Everyone has voted in large numbers against this government, and this time, change is definitely going to happen. I had already said that the results will come on the 14th, and the oath ceremony will be held on the 18th," Yadav said.
The exit polls came out after the conclusion of voting in Bihar. While the first phase of polling was held on November 6, the second phase concluded on Tuesday. The state has seen record polling in the assembly polls.
The People's Pulse poll survey allocated 133-159 seats to the NDA, 75-101 seats to the Mahagathbandhan, and 0-5 seats to Jan Suraaj. Others, it said, are likely to get 2-8 seats.
People's Insight's survey predicted 133-148 seats for the NDA, 87-102 seats for the Mahagathbandhan, 0-2 seats for Jan Suraaj, and 3-6 seats for independent candidates.
The JVC survey predicted that the NDA is likely to win 135-150 seats, the Mahagathbandhan 88-103 seats, Jan Suraaj may win 0-1 seats, while others may secure 3-6 seats.
According to the DVC Research polls survey, the NDA is projected to win 137-152 seats, the Mahagathbandhan 83-98 seats, Jan Suraaj 2-4 seats, and others 4-8 seats.