Exit polls in India have always been under scrutiny, recently when they failed to accurately predict the outcomes of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and Haryana assembly polls. As Maharashtra and Jharkhand cast their votes on November 20, all eyes are on the exit polls to see if they get it right this time. The Maharashtra exit poll results will be announced post 6:30 pm, as per the ECI guidelines. The actual results will be out on Saturday, November 23.
Exit polls in 2019 were however relatively accurate in predicting the results of the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections, even if the final seat tallies were slightly off. Currently, Maharashtra is governed by the Mahayuti coalition, which includes the BJP, along with factions of the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and the NCP under Deputy CM Ajit Pawar. The state has 288 assembly constituencies.
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What did 2019 Exit Polls predict about Maharashtra?
Back in 2019, the Shiv Sena and the NCP were united, with the Shiv Sena contesting alongside the BJP, while the NCP aligned with Congress. However, the Shiv Sena eventually broke away from the BJP, forming an alliance with Congress, which led to its split in 2022. The NCP also saw a division in 2023, with Ajit Pawar breaking away from his uncle, Sharad Pawar.
In the 2019 elections, the ABP News Exit Poll forecasted a strong performance for the BJP-led NDA, predicting they would win 210 out of the state’s 288 seats. The Congress-led UPA was estimated to secure 63 seats. Additionally, a ‘poll of polls’ by India Today, which combined the results of six different exit polls, projected 213 seats for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, and 61 seats for the Congress-NCP alliance.
Also ReadMaharashtra Assembly Election 2024: Results, Voting Details, Exit Poll Results, Key Constituencies, Key candidates – Full Schedule here
What were the actual Maharashtra Election results in 2019?
The actual results were different. The BJP won 105 seats, emerging as the single-largest party in the state, while the Shiv Sena secured 56 seats. This brought the BJP-Shiv Sena total to 161 seats, comfortably above the majority threshold. The Congress won 44 seats, and the NCP secured 54 seats,
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