Exit polls predict Modi win, Cong comeback in Himachal

Post-polls surveys on Monday predicted a comfortable victory for Narendra Modi in Gujarat, saying he is poised to score a hat-trick as chief minister while the Congress is likely to come back to power in Himachal Pradesh in a closely fought contest.

At least four exit polls, the Headlines Today-Org survey, the Timesnow-C voter survey, ABP-News-AC Nielsen and another by Today's Chanakya predicted that in Gujarat the BJP led by Modi will better its 2007 performance. AC Nielsen had earlier predicted 116 seats for the BJP but later revised it to 126 seats.

Results for both Gujarat and Himachal polls will be announced on December 20.

All the surveys, including one by CSDS for CNN-IBN and The Week were unequivocal that Modi was the clear choice for chief ministership of Gujarat. CSDS said 41 per cent of the people preferred Modi as the CM, leaving others like Keshhubhai Patel (8 per cent), Shankersinh Vaghela (8 per cent) and Shakti Singh Gohil (4 per cent) far behind. Even the Patel community opted for Modi as the chief minister of Gujarat, according to the survey.

The surveys underscored that Modi's development agenda worked magic for the BJP, converting itself into pro-incumbency votes.

The C-Voter survey predicted 119 to 129 seats for BJP in Gujarat and the Congress much behind with a tally between 49 and 59 seats out of the total 182 seats. It projected a vote share of 46 per cent for BJP against 37 per cent for Congress. Today's Chanakya, on the other hand, said the BJP is likely to get 140 against 117 seats it had won in 2007. The poll projected the Congress to get 40 seats — 19 short of 59 it won in 2007 polls.

The Headlines Today-ORG exit poll predicted that the BJP is likely to get 118-128 seats while the Congress tally will decline further (50-56 seats) as compared to the 59 seats it got in 2007. ABP News predicted the BJP to win 116 seats and Congress 60.

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