Exit Poll Shows Advantage for Ruling BJP in Gujarat Bypolls, Congress Falling Behind

An India Today-Axis exit poll on Saturday predicted an advantage for the ruling BJP in the Gujarat bypolls. It has also predicted that the saffron party will have an upper hand in the Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh bypolls.

In Gujarat, the BJP is expected to bag six to seven seats with a 49% vote share while the Congress is expected to win zero to one seats with a 40% vote share. Other parties are not expected to open their account after bagging a vote share of 11%.

Days before polling took place for the bypolls in Gujarat, the Congress had released a video of an alleged sting operation claiming that the BJP had offered money to its MLAs to resigning from their assembly seats. But the BJP had rubbished the claims.

The exit poll suggests that the BJP will have an upper hand in MP, with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan likely to bag 16-18 seats, the Congress 10-12 seats, and the BSP 1. A total of 28 Assembly seats were up for bypolls in the state. 28 Congress legislators led by Jyotiraditya Scindhia had resigned earlier this year, which led to the fall of the Kamal Nath-led government reducing the strength of the assembly and catapulting the BJP to power.

The exit poll predicted that the BJP is expected to bag five to six of the seven seats up for bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, while the Samajwadi Party is expected to get one to two seats and the BSP 0 to one. The BJP had held six out of seven assembly seats which held bypolls recently while one seat was with the SP. This is for the first time that the BSP participated in assembly polls, making the fight multi-cornered.