Prashant Kishor’s first reaction after exit poll results 2024 show massive win for BJP-led NDA

Political strategist Prashant Kishor, shortly after the release of exit poll results 2024 for the Lok Sabha elections, on Saturday took a dig at “fake journalists and loudmouth politicians” and asked the public not to waste time on “useless discussions” and “analyses”.

Exit polls on Saturday, June 1, predicted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain power for a third straight term, with the Bharatiya Janata-led NDA expected to win a big majority in the general elections.

“Next time there’s talk of elections and politics, don’t waste your valuable time on the useless discussions and analyses of idle fake journalists, loudmouth politicians, and self-proclaimed social media experts,” Prashant Kishor wrote in Hindi on X (formally Twitter).

The Jan Suraaj Party chief has been claiming that the BJP could win 303 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the number of seats the party won in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, or slightly more.

Hours before the release of the exit poll 2024 results, Prashant Kishor, in an interview with The Print, reiterated his prediction on the performance of the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha polls

“According to my assessment, the BJP is going to come back with the same or slightly better numbers. In western and northern India, I don’t see a significant shift in the number of seats. The party has gained adequate support from regions in the east and south of India,” Prashant Kishor said in the interview.

Prashant Kishor also suggested a potential rise in the BJP’s seat tally and vote share in the eastern and southern states. He added that the party’s increased efforts to bolster its presence in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, anticipating gains due to the electorate’s relative unfamiliarity with the BJP in these regions.

Many exit polls have predicted the NDA, in all likelihood, will open its account in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and sweep Karnataka but may see a fall in its tally in states such as Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Haryana, while Uttar Pradesh is expected to remain a BJP bastion.

What exit polls 2024 predicted

While India Today-Axis My India has predicted 361-401 seats for the BJP-led NDA and 131-166 seats for the opposition INDIA bloc in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the ABP-C Voter predicted 353-383 seats for the ruling alliance and 152-182 seats for the INDIA bloc.

Today’s Chanakya gave a much higher tally for the BJP and its alliance than the 2019 polls. It predicted 335 seats to the BJP and 400 to the NDA, with a margin of 15 seats either way. It gave 107 seats to the opposition alliance with a possibility of its tally going up or down by 11 seats.

The BJP had given the slogan of ‘400 paar’ for its alliance in the Lok Sabha polls.

If the exit polls hold true, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will equal the record of the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in leading his party to victory at the polls for a third straight term.

The Times Now-ETG Research’s exit poll gave 358 and 152 seats to the NDA and the INDIA bloc respectively.

Many pollsters said the NDA may surpass its 2019 tally of 353 seats. The BJP had won 303 seats in the election. The Congress had bagged 53 seats and its allies 38.

The ‘INDIA’ bloc was formed by opposition parties to take on the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections.

News18 predicted that the BJP on its own will get 306-315 seats while its alliance will bag 355-370 seats. It gave 125-140 seats to the opposition alliance.

India Today-Axis My India has forecast 322-340 seats for the BJP, 60-76 seats for the Congress and 71-90 seats for Congress allies.

The Republic TV-P Marq poll claimed that the ruling alliance will win up to 359 seats and the opposition INDIA bloc will bag 154 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. The Republic TV-Matrize poll gave 353-368 seats to the NDA and 118-133 seats to the opposition.

The Jan Ki Baat poll gave 362-392 seats to the ruling NDA and 141-161 to the opposition alliance. The India TV-CNX gave them 371-401 and 109-139 seats respectively, while the corresponding tally predicted by News Nation was 342-378 and 153-169.

What Prashant Kishor predicted earlier

The political strategist earlier claimed that there was neither significant dissatisfaction with the incumbent BJP government at the Centre nor a strong demand for an alternative in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In an interview with NDTV, Prashant Kishor also said PM Narendra Modi is likely to guide the BJP to another victory in the Lok Sabha polls, predicting that the saffron party’s seat count could be close to or even surpass its 2019 tally of 303.

“I think Modi-led BJP is returning. They may get the same numbers as last election or do slightly better,” NDTV had quoted Prashant Kishor as saying.

“We should look at the fundamentals. If there is anger against the incumbent government and its leader, there is a possibility that regardless of whether there is an alternative, people may decide to vote them out. So far, we have not heard that there is widespread public anger against Modiji. There may be disappointment, unfulfilled aspirations, but we have not heard of widespread anger,” Prashant Kishor added.

The counting of votes will take place on June 4.