Tamil Nadu may end up contributing more seats to the UPA kitty, if results of the exit polls are any indication.
Multiple exit polls on Sunday predicted that the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, comprising the Congress, the CPI, the CPI (M), the MDMK, the VCK and smaller parties, would either sweep the Lok Sabha election or win a majority of the seats. The AIADMK-headed NDA, comprising the BJP, the PMK, the DMDK, the PT and other parties, has been projected to bag a maximum of 16 seats at best, but many polls predicted that it might end up with a single digit tally.
The poll by India Today-Axis My India predicted a rout for the AIADMK-led alliance. It said the DMK front could win between 34 and 38 seats, while the AIADMK might get between zero and four. It projected that the lone seat in Puducherry would go to the Congress.
DMK president M.K. Stalin has backed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate.
Polling was not held in the Vellore constituency.
The Times Now-VMR exit poll said the DMK alliance would get 29 seats and the AIADMK-led alliance, nine seats. The News18-IPSOS exit poll gave the DMK alliance between 22 and 24 seats. The AIADMK alliance, it said, would bag 14 to 16 seats of the total 38 parliamentary constituencies in Tamil Nadu that went for polls on April 18.
The News 24-Today’s Chanakya exit polls projected that the DMK alliance would get about 31 seats, of which four may go either way. It gave the AIADMK six seats with the same rider.
While the Republic-C Voter exit poll predicted victory for the DMK alliance parties in 27 constituencies and for the AIDAMK front in 11 seats, the Republic–Jan ki Baat exit poll projected wins in between 15 and 29 seats for the DMK front and between nine and 13 constituencies for the AIADMK alliance.
The ABP–Nielsen exit polls claimed that DMK on its own would win in 13 seats and the AIADMK in six seats. It said the PMK would bag two seats. The agency did not come out with a separate prediction for the Congress, BJP and the Left in Tamil Nadu and instead added it to the tally of these parties nationally.
The Thanthi TV exit poll predicted that the DMK front candidates had bright prospects of winning in 19 seats and the AIADMK alliance in six seats. In the remaining 14 seats, it said it was a tough battle between the two fronts.
