Rama Krishna Sangem
Psephologist Pradeep Gupta and India Today TV channel consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai danced in their newsroom studio, as their exit poll predictions came totally true. Pradeep Gupta, managing director of Axis My India exit poll survey agency’s prediction of Congress getting 121 – 140 came true – as Congress got 133 out of 224 seats in Karnataka assembly by 1.30 pm, on May 13, Saturday.
Rahul Kanwal, news director of India Today channel offered them sweets and greeted Gupta for predicting right on spot. And what? Rajdeep clad in Kannadiga style lungi and white shirt celebrated the occasion for their exit poll forecast coming true. It was only India Today which guessed Congress will get full majority while most other channels predicted there would be a hung assembly.
Pradeep Gupta recalled the pressure he went through while making projections for exit poll on Karnataka. “It was really a pressure on me, as all others guessed it could be a hung assembly, while we said Congress will be a clear winner. Even vote share wise, our guess of Congress getting 43 per cent and BJP 36 per cent and JD(S) at 13 per cent came right,” said Gupta.
It appeared for a while whether these three in the studio were celebrating the Congress victory or BJP’s defeat, but that was not the case. They made it clear that they were just rejoicing the correct guessing of actual results, in their exit polls. Finally, Gupta jokeinlgy offered a tip to Congress leadership – if they find it hard to select a CM for Karnataka, Rajdeep is here – well dressed up! Rajdeep said, he is ready to come to Bangalore, if someone invites him there.
To be fair, India Today’s exit poll carried some weight on May 10, as its recent predictions all came very accurate – whether it is Bengal, or Gujarat or Punjab or Himachal Pradesh. It is ready a risky for the to predict full majority to Congress in Karnataka when more than a dozen channels estimated it could be a hung assembly. Now all eyes will be on India Today, in coming assembly elections, including Telangana.
