India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expecting a record-equalling third straight term in power amid the INDIA opposition bloc’s hope of making a surprise as the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha election is set to start on Tuesday, bringing an end to a marathon polling exercise stretching over 80 days.
While most experts have long seen the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as the favourite in the polls, a lot is at stake for the ruling combine in terms of the scale of victory it can pull off and new territories it can conquer, according to The Press Trust of India. The opposition’s stakes are higher still amid its reducing national footprint, the agency adds.
Exit polls have been, however, unanimous in their prediction that the NDA is closer to realising Modi’s ambitious target of “400 paar” for his alliance than the INDIA bloc is to crossing even the 180 mark, one-third of the total number of seats.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Monday demanded that exit polls must banned in this country, claiming they have been proven wrong several times.
During a press conference, Singh said, “Exit polls should be completely banned in the country since they have been proven wrong not once but many times. This is a wrong attempt to influence the people of the country, the administrative system, and the election commission before the poll counting.” Singh claimed that the INDIA bloc will bag 295 seats following the June 4 counting.
The stage is set for counting of votes on Tuesday for 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, according to election officials.
Counting will start from 8 am amid tight security. The trends are expected around 9 am, PTI reported quoting officials.
Over 25,000 polling staff, including observers and micro observers, are being deployed by the Election Commission for the counting process, which will take place at 55 centres across the state.
