Mumbai: As the elections concluded nationwide on June 1, anticipation for counting day was high, and exit polls were eagerly awaited. On Saturday, following the final phase of voting, various news organisations and survey agencies released their exit polls.
What Do Pollsters Say?
Major surveys like India Today-Axis My India, News24-Today’s Chanakya, and Republic-Matrize predicted an easy win for the Mahayuti alliance. However, the Rudra survey-Exit Polls offered a different forecast, predicting a victory for the MVA with 34 seats, leaving Mahayuti with 13 seats and 1 seat for others out of the total 48 seats.
Details On Rudra Survey-Exit Poll
The Rudra Survey-Exit Poll insights revealed a a 46% vote share for MVA and 43% vote share for Mahayuti. The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi is expected to gain a 3% vote share, with the remaining 8% going to others.
Seat-wise, Shiv Sena UBT is predicted to win the most seats at 14, followed by Congress with 12 seats, BJP with 8 seats, the NCP-SP faction with 8 seats, Ajit Pawar's NCP with 1 seat, and Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena with 3 seats. The remaining seat would go to other parties, completing the tally of 48 seats.
DB Live, a digital channel of the Deshbandhu newspaper, also predicted that the MVA would secure the majority of seats in Maharashtra. According to the Deshbandhu Exit Poll, conducted in association with Electline of India agency, the MVA is forecasted to win 28-30 seats, while the Mahayuti is expected to secure 18-20 seats.
Voting for Maharashtra's 48 Lok Sabha seats began on April 19, 2024, and occurred in five phases. The final phase of voting took place on May 20, 2024, with the earlier phases held on April 19, April 26, May 7, and May 13. Maharashtra ranks second in the number of Lok Sabha seats, just behind Uttar Pradesh's 80.
In this critical state, the Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA)—comprising the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP (SCP)—is vying for dominance against the Mahayuti alliance, which includes BJP, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP. Key candidates in this election are Nitin Gadkari (BJP) from Nagpur, Piyush Goyal (BJP) from Mumbai North, Supriya Sule (NCP-SP) from Baramati and Shrikant Shinde (Shiv Sena) from Kalyan.
Reflecting on the 2019 Lok Sabha results, the BJP emerged with 23 seats, NCP secured 4 seats, Shiv Sena captured 18 seats, and Congress won just 1 seat. Overall, the BJP-led NDA achieved a total of 41 seats out of 48 in Maharashtra.
The official results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be declared on June 4, 2024, revealing whether the exit poll predictions hold true and which alliance will emerge victorious in Maharashtra.
