Election News LIVE Updates: As Exit Polls Predict BJP's Win in Gujarat, 'New Party' AAP Happy To 'Enter The Picture', Congress Leaders 'Disappointed'

Over 81 per cent of 2.57 lakh polling was recorded in the by-election to the Padampur assembly constituency in Odisha’s Bargarh district. As Padampur sub-collector-cum-returning officer Trilochan Patra on Tuesday released the final voter turnout figure at 81.29 per cent, both the ruling BJD and the main Opposition BJP are confident of winning the seat.

MCD Poll Result: Stage is set for the counting of votes for the Delhi Municipal Poll on Wednesday, December 7, in which exit polls have projected a clean sweep by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coming a distant second. READ MORE

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulated the people of Delhi after exit polls showed a clean sweep by the AAP in the municipal elections and also said the prediction for the party in Gujarat is a “positive sign”. “I would like to congratulate the citizens of Delhi. I was also following these exit polls and it looks like it is a good result for the Aam Aadmi Party in the MCD. But we will wait for the final results to come in tomorrow before thanking the people. We hope that the results tomorrow will be in line with the exit poll predictions and that the people of Delhi and the country go on to support the AAP in the future as well,” Kejriwal said.

Ahead of the counting of votes for the MCD polls, the BJP said the tide will turn in its favour even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed a “landslide” victory as predicted by exit polls. The exit polls on Monday showed that the AAP was going to sweep the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls by winning more than 150 of the 250 municipal wards with the BJP emerging a distant second.

Start preparing for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP president JP Nadda told all state units at the party’s two-day national office-bearers’ meeting that concluded on Tuesday. READ MORE

A voter turnout of 65.22 per cent was recorded in the second and final phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections in 93 seats, as per the latest data shared by the Election Commission. The turnout is lower than the 69.99 per cent polling held in these constituencies in 2017.

Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah rejected the claims that the Gujarat poll result will be an indicator of electoral outcome in Karnataka, which will go to polls by April-May next year and said local issues dominate these elections. Reacting to exit polls, he said, “Let’s see when the results are out on December 8. Some channels are projecting Congress ahead in Himachal Pradesh, while others are saying it is BJP, and that there is a stiff competition. In Gujarat they are saying BJP is ahead, let the results come. In any election we will have to accept the mandate of the people.”

With pollsters predicting a too-close-to-call election result in Himachal Pradesh, both the Bharatiya Janta Party and the Congress are keeping backroom channels open with independent candidates who could call the shots in case of a photo finish. READ MORE

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday ducked queries about exit polls predicting wins, in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly polls, for his former ally BJP which he has vowed to defeat with the help of a united opposition in the next general elections.

Most exit polls have predicted a huge victory for the BJP in Gujarat, the home turf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while the party has been shown to have a slight edge over the Congress in Himachal Pradesh. READ MORE

Authorities here are all geared up for the counting of votes polled in the Delhi municipal elections, with officials saying 42 centres have ben set up for the Wednesday exercise which will begin at 8 am amid tight security.

Delhi recorded a voter turnout of 50.48 per cent in the keenly-watched polls held on December 4, results of which may have ramifications beyond the national capital. The election was largely touted as a three-way contest among a spirited AAP, a confident BJP and a hopeful Congress.

Counting of votes for the MCD polls will be on December 7, while results for the assembly elections in Himachal and Gujarat will be declared on December 8.

‘People who give election ticket to Muslim women are weakening the religion of Islam,’ said Shabbir Ahmed Siddiqui, Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid in Ahmedabad, to ANI.

AAP President expects positive results in Gujarat in spite of people favouring BJP for having strong foothold in the state. Arvind Kejriwal congratulated Delhi for trusting BJP during exit polls.

The announcement of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, that came earlier, spurred political parties into action with each targeting the other over a host of issues such as sanitation, the Capital’s towering garbage dumps, corruption, and corporation taxes. The polls came over eight months after they were meant to be called and at a time when high-profile assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal were underway.

MCD elections were aborted when the Union government decided to dissolve Delhi’s erstwhile municipal corporations and reunify them into a single body, a process that also involved whittling down the wards from 272 to 250. Now, the polling is scheduled to take place on December 5, and the results for all 250 wards (across 12 zones such as Civil Lines, Karol Bagh, and Rohini) will be declared on December 7. The outcome of these polls will be as crucial for political parties, as that of Himachal and Gujarat. READ MORE

According to NDTV, Congress Leader Nasir Hussain talked about the problems within their party and pointed out that exit polls predicted an unsatisfactory show-up of AAP which is in contrast with its all-out campaign.

“In Gujarat, the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) factor was there… The campaign had not picked up earlier. When the momentum picked up, AAP was there and it was concentrating on our votes.” The Congress leader laid the blame at the door of his party’s Gujarat unit.

“There were problems in the Gujarat Congress…Initially we thought we will launch a low profile campaign, not spending huge resources. We thought of a different kind of campaign, reaching out to voters, smaller meetings, larger number of meetings,” he remarked

In case of Himachal Pradesh, Axis My India – TVTN Exit Poll predicts an edge for the Indian National Congress Party with 30 – 40 seats. Himachal Pradesh, which went for a single-phase voting on November 12 recorded a voter turnout of 74.6 per cent across a total of 68 constituencies.

Axis My India – TVTN Exit Poll has further forecasted Bharatiya Janata Party to secure 24-34 seats and Others (BSP, RDP, CPM/CPI and IND) to secure 4-8 seat share respectively. APP expected to get nil seats in the hill state.

In Kangra and Shimla, the Congress is expected to lead with 15 and 11 seats respectively, while the BJP is expected to lead in Mandi with 13 seats.

Reacting to the exit poll predictions,  Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “if Gujarat turns out to be this then it is very disappointing. Talking to NDTV, the Congress leader, however, noted that exit polls often missed the mark completely.

Singhvi said during his visit to Surat and parts of Ahmedabad he “found the spirit very upbeat”. However, he ‘conceded’ that BJP has an edge over the grand old party. “Money power is very visible there,” he said.

“If (the exit polls are) true then yet again it is the success of an extremely polarising campaign. That is unfortunately true of Gujarat campaigns – there is a certain BJP construct created over the last few decades and I think it is holding good, if these results are true. There is no other explanation except the fact that you have created a fear in every speech of the PM and every leader – 50-70% devoted to innuendo, insinuation, minority communities, divisiveness…”  Singhvi said.

It’s a neck-to-neck battle between the Congress and BJP in Himachal Pradesh, said various exit polls on Tuesday as voting officially came to an end in the assembly elections after the Phase-2 in Gujarat concluded.

In Himachal Pradesh, the exit polls projected a range of 24-41 seats for the BJP and 20-40 seats for the Congress. The majority mark is 35 seats. READ MORE