Several channels and poll agencies will shortly release the exit poll results for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections.
In Maharashtra, the fight is between the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance and the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi. In Jharkhand, the BJP-led NDA is attempting to dislodge the JMM-Congress alliance from power.
The election results for both states will be announced on November 23.
Also read: Assembly election: How accurate were Maharashtra, Jharkhand exit polls in 2019?
What happened in the Jharkhand assembly election?
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA), comprising Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, won the Jharkhand election in 2019.
Hemant Soren-led JMM won 30 seats, BJP won 25 and the Congress won 16 seats.
The exit polls had given an edge to the JMM-Congress-led UPA.
In the Maharashtra assembly election 2019, the BJP won 105 seats, the undivided Shiv Sena won 56 seats and the undivided NCP won 54 seats. The Congress won 44 seats. The UPA had performed better than exit poll predictions.
What the Election Commission said about exit polls
After most of the exit polls erroneously predicted Congress victory in the recent Haryana election, several parties had raised doubts over the counting process. Recently, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar cleared the air.
“Because of expectations set by exit polls, a huge distortion is created. This is an issue that needs self-introspection, especially for electronic media,” he had said.
Kumar said that the Election Commission of India was not responsible for governing exit polls under the law but over the last few elections, a trend had emerged wherein news channels started displaying results from 8 am.
“When counting begins, results start coming in from 8:05 to 8:10 which is nonsense. My first counting begins at 8:30 am. Are these trends that are given at 8:05 am, and 8:10 am given to justify the trends of the exit polls? When counting begins at 8:30 am, the results of the first round cannot come before 9:05 am or 9:10 am. We upload that to our website at 9:30 am, and then 11:30 am and then 1:30 pm. Maybe a correspondent was there in the counting room and thus you got it earlier. But while counting, for every round, the result must be displayed and it must be signed by officials. How can it then come before 9:05-9:10 am?” he added.