New Delhi: The Bihar Assembly elections appear to be living up to its billing as something of a cliffhanger, with a series of exit polls offering varied verdicts. At the end of the fifth and final round of voting on Thursday, the pollsters released their predictions, with four of them favouring the Grand Secular Alliance and two betting on the NDA.
Today’s Chanakya, that hit the bull’s eye in predicting the spectacular maiden electoral entry of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party in 2013, and later followed it up by coming bang on in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, forecast a near two-thirds majority for the BJP-led NDA, saying it could win 155 seats in an Assembly of 243. The pollster also claimed the Grand Alliance could win 83 seats.
In contrast, C-Voter, Neilsen and NewsX gave clear wins for the Grand Alliance led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. However, C-Voter also noted that the BJP would be the single largest party in the Assembly, winning 91 seats. The pollster’s verdict is a close call, with the Grand Alliance pegged to win about 122 seats, against 111 for the NDA.
NewsX predicted 130 seats for the Grand Alliance against 90 for the NDA. The India Today-Cicero poll predicted 113 to 127 seats for the NDA and 111 to 123 for the JD(U)-led alliance. India TV forecast 112 to 132 seats for the JDU-led alliance and 101 to 121 for the NDA.
In the 2010 Bihar elections, the NDA, comprising the JD(U) and BJP, had swept the polls, winning 115 and 91 seats respectively, with the RJD getting 22 seats and the Congress just four.
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