Exit polls 2022 Live Updates: Month-long, high voltage polling season across five states - UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa - has finally come to an end. While the results for the Assembly Elections 2022 will be out on March 10, the exit poll predictions are out.
In Uttra Pradesh, BJP and SP are in direct contest to win the biggest and the most critical state. Yogi Adityanath, who is battling anti-incumbency, is hoping to return to the hot seat riding on Modi magic and Mandir politics. Challenging Yogi, the SP chief, Akhilesh Yadav, has attempted a caste chakravyuh with alliances with smaller parties from West to East.
In battleground Punjab, ruling Congress is trying to retain power in a multi-cornered contest. It's Congress Vs AAP Vs Akali Dal Vs BJP and Amrinder combine. Reeling under infighting, Congress has played Dalit card with CM Charanjit Singh Channi. State party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu has made discontent noises all through the campaign. The Aam Aadmi Party has emerged as the main challenger to the Congress in the state. Former Congress veteran and CM Captain Amarinder Singh has teamed up with the BJP to strike revenge on Congress after his humiliating exit.
In Uttarakhand, the Congress is eyeing to dislodge a divided BJP from the government in the hill state. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is facing a tough fight from Harish Rawat-led Congress. The Aam Aadmi Party is making its debut on the plank of anti-corruption and welfare governance.
In Goa, too, there is a direct contest between the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress. Aam Aadmi Party and the Trinamool Congress have also thrown their hats in the Goa political ring.
In Manipur, the contest is between the ruling BJP and the Congress. Conrad Sangma's NPP is also in the fray.
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Several exit polls forecast a clear majority for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab while being mixed in their predictions for Uttarakhand.
Exit polls on CNN News 18, Republic TV and News X channels showed the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance getting 211-277 seats and its main challenger in the Samajwadi Party-led alliance getting anywhere between 119 and 160 seats in Uttar Pradesh. CNN News 18 predicted 262-277 seats for the BJP and allies and 119-134 for the SP and allies in the 403-member state assembly.
Most of them were also unanimous in predicting a big win for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP in Punjab, with one exit poll on India Today projecting up to 76-90 seats in the 117-member assembly.
TV9 Bharatvarsh-Polstrat, however, predicted 56-61 seats for the AAP in Punjab, making it the frontrunner.
The ruling Congress was mostly predicted to be securing the second spot in Punjab.
In Uttarakhand, both the Congress and the BJP were favoured by different exit polls to win the assembly polls. Some exit polls predicted a hung assembly in Goa while forecasting the BJP to have an edge over rivals in Manipur.
The majority mark in the north-eastern state is 31.
With the majority mark in Uttar Pradesh at 202, according to Matrize, BJP and allies will get 262-277 out of 403 seats while SP and its allied parties will win 140. BSP will get 17.
BJP to win 37 seats, Congress 31 in Uttarakhand assembly polls
Exit poll by India Today-Axis in Punjab
AAP 76-90, Cong 19-31, BJP 1-4, SAD 7-11
The majority mark in Punjab is 39.
Ahead of the assembly poll results, BJP leaders and strategists in Uttarakhand have begun internal confabulations over the possible post-poll scenarios that may emerge in the state. Party strategist Kailash Vijayvargiya arrived in Dehradun on Sunday and was huddled with former Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank at the latter's residence to discuss how the party was likely to fare in the polls.
Dismissing pre-poll surveys that showed that the BJP had the edge in Uttar Pradesh elections, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday claimed that the ruling party will be wiped out from the state when the results are declared on March 10. "Let them show whatever they have got. We are winning with a majority," he said, dismissing predictions earlier on some TV channels. Yadav spoke to PTI before the exit polls were scheduled to come up with their predictions on Monday evening, at the end of the final round of polling for the state assembly.