Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Today’s Chanakya Thursday predicted a big win for BJP in West Bengal, while News18 in its exit poll has forecast a tight contest with an edge to BJP.In Tamil Nadu, Today’s Chanakya gave a majority to the DMK and its allies where actor Vijay-led TVK has emerged as an X factor that may push the AIADMK-BJP combine to third position.While most exit polls have given BJP an edge in West Bengal, Today’s Chanakya has forecast a massive lead for the party by giving it 48% votes compared to the governing TMC’s 38% with a margin of 3% for both parties on either side. It will translate into 192 (plus or minus 11) seats for BJP and 100 (plus or minus 11) for TMC in the 294-member assembly, it has said. News 18 has predicted 143 to 163 seats for BJP and 127 to 147 for TMC, with the two parties tipped to get 44% and 43% votes respectively.In Tamil Nadu, Today’s Chanakya said, DMK’s alliance could get 125 seats and TVK 63 in the 234-member assembly. It has given an edge to UDF in Kerala and predicted a landslide victory for BJP in Assam, forecasts which are in line with the general direction of other polls. Axis My India, another pollster, decided not to release its forecast for West Bengal due to an “exceptionally high non-response rate”, with approximately 70% of approached voters declining to participate in the survey.“A refusal rate of this magnitude materially exceeds historical norms and introduces a high degree of non-response bias,” it said.
