Jharkhand election / In 2 exit polls, Hemant Soren’s JMM-led alliance has an advantage

Two exit polls predicted a hung House in Jharkhand but gave a slight edge to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) alliance in the state where five-phased polling ended on Friday. The results will be known on December 23 when counting of votes will take place.

India Today-Axis-My India has predicted that Congress-JMM-RJD alliance will end up with 38-50 seats in the 81-member Assembly.

CVoter-ABP exit poll predicted the BJP will get less than the majority mark and put the party’s seat tally in the range of 28-36 seats.

The half-way mark in the Jharkhand Assembly in 41.

JMM’s working president Hemant Soren had tied up with the Congress and Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and contested polls from Dumka. He is also the CM candidate for the three-party alliance.

The ruling BJP, which is locked in a direct fight against the alliance, had claimed that it would get more than 65 seats in the Assembly election. But the exit polls say otherwise.

Exit polls, however, have often proved unreliable; they are seen as indicators to which party or alliance will form the government.

Top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party’s working president JP Nadda, Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, Union road, transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, Union minister Smriti Irani and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, among others, campaigned in the state.

Chief Minister Raghubar Das also canvassed extensively for his party.

In the last assembly poll, the BJP had won 37 seats and AJSU emerged victorious on five.

The exit polls are based on responses of the people who have just cast their votes. Pollsters, assuming that the voters have correctly revealed their choice, predict the results much before the actual counting of votes.