Rubbishing exit polls which predicted a victory for the National Democratic Alliance in the Bihar Assembly elections, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad on Sunday asserted that the RJD-Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP) alliance would form the next government in Bihar with a comfortable majority.
Addressing journalists at his residence, Mr. Prasad hit out at the exit polls telecast by certain networks on Saturday evening, describing the exercise “a kind of paid news.”
“It is not news, but views being thrust on the voters by certain TV channels,” said the RJD supremo, criticising the fact that the polls were being aired even as actual polling was going on in some booths in the final phase of the Bihar elections.
Dubbing the process “a murderous attack intended to demoralise the public,” Mr. Prasad went on to state that it was “a psychological attempt” by certain television channels to “influence officials involved in the counting of votes” on November 24.
“I am not saying this out of churlishness, but mark my words when I say that people will not forgive them [electronic media] after the declaration of results.”
Predicting that the NDA alliance would not bag even a single seat in the sixth phase of the polls, Mr. Prasad said that he could feel the pulse of the people.
Refuting suggestions that the dramatic surge in women voters would favour the incumbent Nitish Kumar government, Mr. Prasad said that the women were from the backward sections of society and would veer towards the RJD-LJP alliance.
Exhorting the Election Commission of India (ECI) to proscribe exit polls, Mr. Prasad said that an RJD delegation would take up the matter with the EC.
On Saturday, a CNN-IBN forecast conducted in conjunction with the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) predicted a landslide victory for the NDA alliance by stating that it could gain anywhere between 185 and 201 seats.
While the other two surveys — one conducted by Star News and AC Nielsen, and the other by CVoter — were comparatively toned down, they too predicted a majority for the ruling government, awarding the JD(U)-BJP alliance 148 and 142-154 seats respectively.
