New Delhi: Exit polls for the Delhi assembly election on Saturday predicted a big victory for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party with some indicating that it can even repeat its 2015 landslide when it had bagged 67 seats in the 70-member House.
The India Today-Axis poll forecast 59-68 seats for the AAP and 2-11 for the BJP, while the ABP-CVoter put the Delhi’s ruling party’s tally at anywhere between 49 and 63 and that of its main rival between five to 19.
Almost all exit polls predicted little change in the fortunes of the Congress, which had ruled the city between 1998 and 2013 but drew a blank in the 2015 polls.
The Times Now-Ipsos exit poll predicted that Kejriwal will retain power with the AAP winning 47 seats against 23 for the BJP.
The Republic-Jan ki Baat survey gave the AAP 48-61 seats and the BJP 9-21 seats. The TV9 Bharatvarsh-Cicero predicted 52-64 seats for the AAP and 6-16 for the BJP.
An exit poll put out by Neta-NewsX said the AAP may win 53-57 seats and the BJP 11-17.
The ABP’s survey said that the AAP’s vote share may be a whopping 50.4 per cent against the BJP’s 36 per cent.
The corresponding share for the two parties was 56 per cent and 35 per cent, according to the India Today-Axis poll.
In 2015, the AAP and the BJP had won 67 and three seats respectively.
Their corresponding vote share was 54.3 and 32.3 per cent.
Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari put up a brave face amid prediction of defeat for his party, claiming it will win 48 seats and form a government in the city.
AAP leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said his party is going to win with a big margin.
The BJP and the AAP had run two contrasting campaigns with the saffron party pitching the issue of nationalism around the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests, especially in Shaheen Bagh here, at the centre of its aggressive electioneering.
The AAP mostly avoided to get into a fight with its rival over national issues and ran its campaign around its development planks and populist schemes like free power and bus ride for women. (PTI)
