Rajasthan Election 2023: All eyes on today’s exit polls. When and where to watch live?

On Thursday, Rajasthan, which voted on November 25 to elect its next government, will get an idea of which way the election is headed, as results of exit polls conducted by survey agencies will be out, to be revealed by the respective news channels they partnered with.

When will news channels broadcast Rajasthan exit polls?

Last month, the Election Commission of India (ECI), while announcing the poll schedule for five states (Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Telangana), banned exit polls between 7am on November 7 and 6:30pm on November 30.

Where to watch Rajasthan exit polls?

News channels such as News18, India Today, Times Now, ABP News, and Republic TV will air the results provided by the survey agencies. Besides giving an estimate of the number of seats each party is likely to win, these will also give details such as the likely vote share, region-wise results, region-wise vote share, expected results for VIP seats, and more.

To keep readers updated, Hindustan Times too will publish the exit poll results of most of the major survey agencies, and a ‘poll of polls.’

What is an ‘exit poll’?

Through an exit poll, a survey agency tries to gauge the likely result of an election. Here, voters are asked, after they exit the polling station (hence, ‘exit poll’), who they voted for. A similar exercise is the opinion poll, which is conducted several months/days before the election, and in which people are asked who they will/are likely to vote for.

How accurate is an exit poll?

These must be taken with a pinch of salt. There have been several instances in the past of exit polls going wrong. This is because people could name a candidate other than the one they actually voted for; give different answers to different agencies, or mention a name despite not having voted at all.

Conversely, the exit polls could be accurate as well, both in terms of seat projection and the result. There is also a possibility that a party projected to win, comes out victorious, but with a seat tally higher/lower than the projected one.

What happened in Rajasthan election?

The desert state has total 200 assembly segments but polling took place for 199 as the exercise was postponed in Sriganganagar’s Karanapur seat due to the demise of Gurmeet Singh Kunnar, the candidate of the ruling Congress. Overall, a turnout of 75.45% was recorded; the figure is marginally higher than five years ago, when the turnout stood at 74.71%.

Since 1993, no government in Rajasthan has been re-elected for a second term, and the state has alternated between the BJP and the Congress, the 2018 winner.

The results for the current election will be declared on December 3.