Punjab chief minister and AAP leader Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday claimed exit polls - which predicted his party's (ultimately) emphatic victory in the Delhi MCD election - would be proven wrong when votes from the Gujarat Assembly election are counted tomorrow.
Mann insisted the results in that election will be ‘surprising’.
Also Read | MCD election 2022 results: Full list of BJP, AAP & Congress winners/leading candidates
The Punjab leader made these comments while addressing a gathering in Delhi alongside chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and other senior figures. "Delhi is known as the heart of the country. And today, the AAP has won both the nation's as well as the public's heart."
“Kejriwal uprooted the 15-year rule of Congress (which formed the Delhi government before the AAP) and has now uprooted the 15-year rule of the BJP from the MCD,” he declared.
The BJP had held the reigns of the national capital's civic bodies since 2007.
{{/usCountry}}The BJP had held the reigns of the national capital's civic bodies since 2007.
{{/usCountry}}People do not like ‘politics of hatred’ and vote for schools, cleanliness, infrastructure and hospitals, Mann said earlier today. “BJP wanted to stop AAP so it fielded its entire force (but) the results (from Gujarat) will be surprising. The exit polls will prove to be wrong in Gujarat. I will go to the party office and celebrate with the workers,” he told news agency ANI.
Also Read | Time for exit polls to exit, says Congress leader Jairam Ramesh
The AAP has secured 134 wards in Delhi - above the majority mark of 126. The BJP won 104 and the Congress - not expected to put up a fight - trailed massively with just nine.
The BJP will hope for better fortune in Gujarat - one it has ruled for nearly three consecutive decades. A defeat in prime minister Narendra Modi's home state will be unthinkable, particularly if it comes 24 hours after this loss and with general election looming.
The AAP - seen by many as a dark horse in Gujarat - is not predicted to make much of a dent in what has traditionally been a straight fight between the BJP and the Congress.
In addition to Gujarat, election results from Himachal Pradesh - another BJP-ruled state - are also due Thursday.