While the exit polls for Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh are giving mixed results, both the TDP and YSRCP have expressed confidence of their respective parties winning. The election results will be announced on May 23.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday said that the exit polls had failed to catch the pulse of the people, time and again.
"Exit polls have proved to be incorrect and far from ground reality in many instances," the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief tweeted after a majority of exit polls favoured the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to form the government by winning around 300 seats.
"While undoubtedly TDP govt will be formed in Andhra Pradesh, we are confident that non-BJP parties will form a non-BJP government at the Centre," Naidu said.
Naidu also reiterated the demand that the Election Commission count voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips in at least 50% of the polling stations.
"VVPATs should be counted in five polling stations in each Assembly constituency at the beginning of the counting process. In case of discrepancy, all VVPATs of Assembly constituencies should be counted," he said.
The exit polls threw up mixed results for Andhra Pradesh as some surveys predicted a TDP victory while others predicted that the YSRCP would bag most of the 25 seats. The state went to polls in the first phase on April 11.
TDP leader Vijaykumar told TNM, “All the national channels failed colossally in 2014 as well, as in the exit polls released now. As far as Andhra is concerned, their credibility is under question. We have decided to not go with any of their predictions but instead wait for the public's verdict on May 23.”
Meanwhile, the YSRCP said that the exit polls, which predicted its victory in Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections, had only confirmed what it had been claiming for several months. However, the party did not agree with the exit polls for Lok Sabha election, which predicted around 13 to 15 seats out of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The party said it was confident of winning 23 seats.
Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, who is the political secretary to YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, was confident that the party would get more seats than projected in the exit polls.
Meanwhile, exuding confidence that the YSRCP will comfortably win, party MLA Roja Selvamani, speaking on a TV9 panel, said, “The interests of farmers, unemployed youth and women were not cared for. Even if we consider the promises made during the bifurcation, nothing has been fulfilled. The TDP has done a U-turn on their stand on special status and destroyed the state. Jagan enjoys the support of the people and the TDP will see the result on May 23.”
The 2019 elections are the first in the residual state of Andhra Pradesh after the bifurcation in 2014. United Andhra, which had a total of 42 seats and saw the elections being held together in 2014, witnessed the TDP winning 16, TRS 11, YSRCP 9, BJP 3, and Congress 2 seats. However, many MPs defected to the TDP from YSRCP. Ahead of the polls, there was a reverse exodus of legislators and senior politicians.
The state has witnessed a shake-up in poll alliances after the TDP pulled out of the NDA in 2018 following the Centre’s refusal to grant special status to Andhra. While Naidu’s party has voiced support for the Congress-led alliance at the national level, the two parties have chosen to contest independently in Andhra Pradesh.
Naidu is also presently attempting to act as convenor for an anti-BJP front and has met several senior politicians, from Sonia Gandhi to Sharad Pawar in New Delhi, to Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh. Jagan, on the other hand, is keeping his cards close to his chest and has said that he will support any party that grants special status to Andhra Pradesh. However, his first preference is likely to be Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's Federal Front.
IANS inputs