As the last round of Assembly elections for five states ahead of next year's Lok Sabha polls ended on Tuesday, exit polls put the Congress back on the electoral map, with predictions showing the party winning Rajasthan and being in a close contest with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi will retain Telangana, while the Congress will lose its last bastion in the Northeast in Mizoram, according to pollsters.
In Rajasthan, most exit polls pointed to a victory for the Congress. Times Now-CNX predicted the party will sweep with 105 seats in the state where elections were held in 199 of the 200 constituencies. India Today exit poll said the party will win 141 in seats and Republic-C Voter gave the Congress 129 to 145 seats. The party will scrape through with 101 seats, said the opinion poll of ABP News-CSDS.
Times Now-CNX has predicted that the incumbent BJP led by Vasundhara Raje will manage to bag 85 seats, while the India Today's exit polls projected 55 to 72 seats will go to her party's kitty. Republic-C Voter gave BJP anywhere between 52 and 68 and the ABP News-CSDS claimed the number for Raje's party would be 83.
Opinion polls pointed to a close contest for the Congress and the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, where the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government has been in power for the past 15 years, with a majority of them predicting an edge for the Congress.
India Today-Axis exit poll has projected a victory for the BJP between 102-120 seats with 40 per cent vote share, while giving the Congress 104-124 seats with 41 per cent vote share. The C-Voter has predicted 90-106 seats for the BJP and 110-126 seats for the Congress. Today's Panchari said the Congress will win 125 seats in the 231-member House, while the BJP will bag 103 seats.
Times Now-CNX exit poll, however, has predicted a victory for the BJP with 126 seats and 89 seats for Congress.
Similarly, in Chhattisgarh, pollsters have predicted a close contest between the two, with the BJP leading by a small margin. Times Now-CNX has predicted BJP bagging anywhere between 42 and 50 seats, while Republic C-Voter predicting between 35 and 43 seats. India Today Axis-My India has predicted 21 to 31 seats, while ABP CSDS point to 52 seats for the BJP. Times Now-CNX has predicted 32 to 38 seats for the Congress, while Republic C-Voter has predicted 42 to 50 seats, and India Today Axis My India has predicted 55 to 65 seats for the Congress. Additionally, ABP-CSDS has predicted 35 seats for the Congress. With several pollsters predicting anywhere between 0 and eight seats for the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh and Bahujan Samaj Party combine, they could emerge as the kingmakers in the state.
TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao's gamble to call for early polls might pay off, with exit polls predicting that the TRS retaining the newest state of the country. India Today-My Axis was the most generous to the TRS, predicting anywhere between 79 and 91 seats in the 119-member Assembly. Times Now-CNX has predicted 66 seats for TRS, while NewsX-ITV Neta has foreseen 57 seats to be in TRS's kitty. Republic-C Voter has predicted that TRS will win 50 to 65 seats.
As per poll predictions, the Congress is likely to lose its last government in the Northeast, the Lal Thanhawla-led government in Mizoram, to the Mizo National Front, which is an ally of the BJP-led National Democratic Front at the Centre.
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