Hyderabad: BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao on Thursday evening declared that the party would secure 70-plus seats in the Assembly elections, dismissing a few exit polls that predicted a poor showing by the ruling party.
Calling on party leaders and workers not to get disheartened, Rama Rao questioned the credibility of the exit polls that were released even as voters were queueing up at polling booths to cast their votes.
Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan, Rama Rao also questioned the Election Commission of India’s decision to allow exit poll results to be announced before the voting exercise was completely carried out.
“I called the CEO and told him that this is wrong, and he said these were ECI guidelines. At least in the future, the ECI certainly needs to relook at its decision. I am not going to trust the exit polls that say BRS is getting more seats either. Let’s wait for the counting of votes on December 3, and I can tell you that we are getting 70-plus seats. We expected 80-plus seats but because of some hurdles, we may not be able to get to that number,” he said.
Rama Rao said that in 2018 too, a few exit polls had predicted a loss for the BRS, but turned out to be inaccurate. “I am calling on our party cadres not to get disheartened. We are winning again and will score a hat-trick. Let’s wait for the counting… the results will show BRS has won,” he said.
Questioned about the decreased estimate of seats projected initially, Rama Rao said: “There are three main factors. I will go into the details on December 3. Let’s hold our horses till then. Yesterday, I accused the ‘national’ media of jumping the gun, so I will not do the same.”
The research for exit polls, he said, was nominal. “They ask some 200 people and it is unfair research. Some media houses have the audacity to declare such results, and if they are proved wrong on December 3, will they have the courage to apologise to the people of Telangana?” Rama Rao said.
