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| Wednesday, 3 December 2003 |
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Exit polls predict gains for BJP NEW DELHI, Tuesday (AFP) Exit polls conducted by various Indian TV channels indicated gains for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party in elections held in four states. Elections were held Monday in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi states - all ruled by the main opposition Congress party. The votes will be counted Thursday and official results will be declared the same day. A poll conducted by the ORG-Marg polling agency for the Aaj Tak Hindi TV channel said in Rajasthan, the BJP was just ahead with 38 percent of the votes compared to the Congress' 37 percent. Another polling agency, DRS on the Sahara Samay channel, said the BJP would win 89 of the 200 seats in the Rajasthan assembly while Congress would get 84. However a C-Voter exit poll for Zee TV put the Congress ahead in Rajasthan, with 91 to 107 seats compared to the BJP's 86-102 seats. In the central Madhya Pradesh state, Sahara Samay said the BJP was way ahead with 168 of the 230 seats with the Congress on just 44 seats. Zee and C-Voter said the BJP would get around 109-125 seats and the Congress around 79-95 in Madhya Pradesh. In Delhi, the Sahara poll gave 38 of the 70 seats to Congress and 25 to the BJP while a Star TV - A.C. Neilson exit poll gave 50 seats to Congress and 11 to the BJP. In the central tribal state of Chhattisgarh, Aaj Tak said the parties were almost neck and neck with 43 percent of the votes to Congress and 39 percent to the BJP. The Zee poll predicted a hung assembly with the BJP winning 36-44 seats and the Congress 39-47 in the 90-seat body. The Election Commission said an estimated 56 percent of 94 million voters took part in largely peaceful polling in the four states. Meanwhile India's main political foes claimed they were heading for victory as millions voted in key state assembly elections seen as a dress rehearsal for the 2004 general polls. "We are expecting good results," the main opposition Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said as people voted in numbers in the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi, which are currently ruled by her party. Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made similar claims, as the police reported sporadic attacks on polling stations by Maoist guerrillas in Chhattisgarh. "BJP is very confident of winning in all the four states because these areas have suffered by the misrule of the Congress," party spokesman Prakash Javadekar told AFP. Pollsters say a high turnout often indicated dissatisfaction with those currently in power, which would go against the Congress. Other surveys, however, predict the Congress will retain its control over three states while the BJP could wrest power in Madhya Pradesh. "It seems the entire federal government is fighting the polls in Madhya Pradesh," said the state's Congress Chief Minister Digvijay Singh of desperate pre-poll campaigning by the BJP and its coalition partners. Hindu nun Uma Bharti, running for the chief ministerial post in Madhya Pradesh for the BJP, scorned Singh and said her party would sail past the Congress, which has run the state for 10 years, when the results are declared on Thursday. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit too predicted a win with "distinction" for Congress in the 70-seat city assembly and charged the BJP with "terrorising" voters during Monday's voting. Casting her vote, Dikshit said Congress had turned the capital of 14 million people into a modern city. "We have done our job and now we await the approval of the people of our work," the charismatic leader said. In the fray for the 590 assembly seats up for grabs are 5,348 candidates including eunuchs, street hawkers and former princes. |
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