Mahagathbandhan chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday dismissed the exit poll projections that predicted a clear victory for the NDA in the Bihar Assembly elections, alleging that they were intended to exert “psychological pressure” on officials involved in vote counting.
Exuding confidence about a decisive mandate in favour of the Opposition alliance, Tejashwi claimed that the 76 lakh additional votes cast in this election compared to the 2020 Assembly polls were for badlav (change), not for “saving” the Nitish Kumar government.
Exit poll figures released after the conclusion of the second and final phase of voting on Tuesday had unanimously forecast an emphatic win for the two-decade-old Nitish-led NDA government.
“The exit polls showed a big victory for the NDA even as people were still standing in queues to vote. Can such surveys be trusted?” Tejashwi asked at a media address in Patna. “This is nothing but a tactic to put psychological pressure on counting officials,” he alleged, accusing the Prime Minister’s Office and Union home minister Amit Shah of influencing the predictions.
“Write it down — change is definite this time,” he declared. “The results will be out on November 14, and by November 18, our government will be sworn in. Naukri wali sarkar aayegi (a government that provides jobs will come),” he said emphatically.
The votes are scheduled to be counted on Friday.
Tejashwi, who addressed over 85 rallies during his campaign that centred on the promise of providing one government job per family, cited the high voter turnout as evidence of an anti-incumbency wave. “Seventy-six lakh extra votes have been cast compared to 2020. It’s a massive number. These votes are not to save the Nitish Kumar government — they are for badlav, parivartan, change,” he asserted.
Referring to surveys conducted before the elections, he said that Nitish’s approval as the preferred chief minister was only 16-18 per cent. “How can it suddenly rise so sharply now? It’s simply not possible,” he said.
“In 2024, the same news channels and pollsters had predicted 400-plus Lok Sabha seats for the NDA. They also gave the BJP wins in Bengal and Jharkhand — everyone knows what actually happened,” he said.
More predictions
The Axis-My-India exit poll for NDTV on Wednesday predicted a close contest between the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan, with a slight edge to the ruling alliance. According to the survey, the NDA is projected to win 121-140 seats in the 243-member Assembly, while the Mahagathbandhan could secure 98-118. The poll also indicated a narrow gap in vote share — 43 per cent for the NDA against 41 per cent for the Mahagathbandhan.
