Exit polls grim news for Congress

With the last votes now  in for India’s month-long election, a flood of exit polls are predicting what most commentators have been saying all along – an alliance led by Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will form the next  government, sweeping aside a decade of Congress-led power.

It appears that Congress, which has been in government for much of the  67 years since independence, will suffer its worst-ever performance, with the possibility it will win less than 100 seats in the 543-seat Loc Sabha (Lower House of Parliament).

Estimates for the BJP ranged from a massive 340 seats to 261. Even the lowest total would see it easily able to pick up enough support from regional and minor parties to form government.

The anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party, whose leader, Arvind Kejriwal, reportedly gave Modi a run for his money in the seat of Varanasi, is likely to win only six or seven seats. It would certainly have suffered nationally by the amount of resources it put in to supporting Kejriwal, but may well have set the stage for stronger performances in the future.

While exit polls have not always been reliable in India – for instance they missed the result completely when Congress defeated the BJP in 2004 - the likely margin of victory has encouraged BJP Deputy Leader Ravi Shankar Prasad to give some “unsolicited advice” to Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi, urging him to “get used” to sitting on the opposition benches.

In a swipe at the Nehru-Gandhi family – Rahul’s father, grandmother and great grandfather have all been prime ministers of India - Prasad said Congress had paid the penalty for “flaunting your inheritance and achievements of your forefathers attained 20 to 30 years ago. People are asking questions on what you have to say about the present.”       

Counting will begin on Friday, with the result expected to be announced over the following few days.