Exit poll effect?: Posters declare Tejashwi Yadav Bihar CM day before counting of votes
Exit polls are based on voters’ responses right after they have exited the polling booth and can often be misleading.
Workers of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Monday put up posters in Bihar, wishing the “to-be chief minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav” on his birthday after exit polls, based on voters’ responses right after they exit the polling booths, projected the opposition alliance led by him as the winner of the high-stakes polls.
“Here is wishing Tejashwi Yadav, Bihar’s youngest chief minister to be, a very happy birthday,” the posters read.
If 31-year-old Tejashwi Yadav becomes the chief minister of Bihar, he will be the youngest person to have ever held the top post in any state in the country. In 1967, MOH Farook became the chief minister of Union territory of Puducherry at the age of 29. Satish Prasad Singh, at the age of 32, became the chief minister of Bihar in 1968.
The posters surfaced a day after the RJD warned its workers against indulging in celebratory firing and “uncivil behaviour” towards rivals on the day of the counting of votes, irrespective of the results. “Whatever the election results are on November 10, it has to be accepted with absolute restraint, simplicity and courtesy. Improper fireworks, celebratory firing and uncivil behaviour towards our rivals or their supporters will not be accepted at any cost,” the party had said on Sunday.
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Most pollsters, who have been widely off the mark in the past, have said the Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance led by Tejashwi Yadav is set to win the Bihar assembly elections. The Mahagathbandhan is projected to get around 120 seats in the 243-member house by Times Now C-Voter exit poll, while Republic TV-Jan Ki Baat projected 118-138 seats for the alliance.
According to Today’s Chanakya, it could win 180 seats and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) fronted by chief minister Nitish Kumar could fall short of a clear majority in the Bihar Assembly Election 2020. According to the Times Now C-Voter exit poll, the NDA could end up with only 116 seats. The Republic TV-Jan Ki Baat exit poll projected between 91 and 117 seats for the NDA and Today’s Chanakya said the alliance could end up winning just 55 seats.
Elections in the state were held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7 and results will be announced on Tuesday, November 10. In preparation for the counting of votes, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has set up 55 counting centres in all the 38 districts of the state. Three-layer security of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Bihar Military Police and district armed police have been provided at these counting centres.