New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS): The BJP leaders have claimed that the results of the Delhi Assembly elections that will be announced on Tuesday will take everyone by surprise as "the saffron party is all set to stake claim to power with a resounding majority". The polling for the 70-member Delhi Assembly, held on February 8, recorded over 60 per cent voter turnout.
Stating as "incorrect" the exit polls' findings, that predict a comfortable victory for the ruling AAP, the BJP leaders said they do not believe in them.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asserts that the sudden increase in the polling percentage on Saturday is a "good sign", the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) expressed doubts about EVM "manipulations". The Election Commission, however, stated clearly that all electronic voting machines (EVMs) are beyond any "cloud of doubt".
The BJP's Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari has cited the exit poll predictions of the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections to back his reasoning behind not believing the exit polls' findings in Delhi.
The exit polls in 2017 had hinted at the formation of an AAP government in Punjab whereas the Congress finally took over the reins of power.
"All these exit polls will fail. Save my tweet. The BJP will form the government by bagging 48 seats (in the 70-member Assembly)," Tiwari said.
He said the exit polls back then had predicted 59-67 seats for the AAP in Punjab but the Congress emerged the winner eventually.
Controversial BJP leader and party MP from West Delhi, Pravesh Verma also refused to believe the exit poll predictions. He said the BJP might win 50 seats, adding that the AAP will get 16 seats and the Congress will be getting just four seats.
The BJP's IT cell head Amit Malviya, through his tweets, said the spike in the polling percentage in the last few hours of February 8 will deliver "shocking results". He said the sudden increase augurs well for the BJP, and attributed the rise in the voting percentage to the hard work of the BJP cadre and volunteers.
In one of the tweets, Malviya said: "The Election Commission confirmed the turnout of 62.59% in Delhi. This is almost two per cent more than the 2019 Lok Sabha polls," which makes the matter "more interesting".
Meanwhile, BJP sources said the exit polls are not the final result as such predictions have been proved wrong in several elections in the country.
Party sources said the exit polls failed to predict the "correct" winner in Punjab and Bihar in the past.
"Through 'nukkad' meetings, the BJP was able to communicate with voters from the streets to the localities. There was no ward in Delhi where the top leaders did not hold meetings," BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay said.
"The TV channels did not wait till 6 p.m. to pick the exit poll figures but depended on the data that was available till 3 p.m. Hence, exit polls cannot reveal the correct picture. It takes 3-4 hours to collect and compile the correct figures of 70 seats. Therefore, exit polls' claims are questionable," he said.
Upadhyay also claimed that there was "less crowd" at AAP-managed booths on the day of polling.