On Friday, exit polls for the states of Chhattisgarh and Mizoram were announced, almost a week after the states had gone to the polls for their respective state Assemblies. While most exit polls have predicted a neck-and-neck fight between the Congress and the BJP in Chhattisgarh and in Mizoram, the exit polls have indicated a hung Assembly.
Chhattisgarh
In Chhattisgarh, while the numbers vary slightly from poll to poll, overall it appears that the Congress and BJP are tied together in a close race.
The Times Now-CNX exit poll has predicted a Congress win with 46 seats. The BJP is predicted to win 39 seats. The poll predicted 5 seats for other candidates and no seats for the JCC-BSP coalition.
CVoter also showed a victory for Congress with 46 seats, with 39 seats for BJP and 5 for others.
India Today-MyAxis poll has predicted a landslide victory for the Congress with around 119-141 seats and an estimate of around 55-72 seats for the BJP. The Jan Ki Baat poll shows that the Congress to have an estimate of 37 to 43, the BJP predicted to gain anywhere between 40 and 48, and 5 to 6 seats going to others.
Chhattisgarh Assembly elections were held in two phases on November 12 and 20 respectively, with the exit polls for the same being released on Friday. The first phase, for the first 18 seats were held across 8 different districts, which have been known to have presence of Maoist activities, while the remaining 19 districts holding elections on November 20.
The BJP has been in power in the state for the past 3 terms, with the incumbent Chief Minister having been Raman Singh, who is looking to retain his position. However, the BSP and Janta Congress coalition (with the latter led by Ajit Jogi) aims to change this. On the other hand, there is the Congress which is looking to come back into power in the state after a gap of 15 long years. With a total number of seats at 90, the halfway mark is 46.
Mizoram
Mizoram, which has a total of 40 seats in the Assembly, the winning number of seats is 21.
Times Now-CNX polls, the Congress and the Mizo National Front (MNF) are predicted to be in a close race with the Congress predicted to land 16 seats and the MNF 18, while others are expected to gain 6 seats in total. The BJP is unlikely to secure any seats.
The iTV-NETA poll has predicted a tight race between the MNF and Congress at 19 and 15 seats respectively, and other parties securing about 6 seats.
According to CVoter polls, the Congress is predicted to secure 14 and 18 seats while the Mizo National Front (MNF) is predicted to have a slight advantage over Congress and could secure between 16 and 20.
The Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) is predicted to gather 3 to 7 seats and other parties are predicted to get around from 0 to 3. The exit poll also indicated that the MNF would win 31.9% of votes and that the Congress would win 32.2% of votes.
Assembly elections in the state were held on November 28.