NEW DELHI, India—Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) seemed set for a clear majority in the Delhi Assembly elections, with exit polls giving it between 35 and 48 seats in the 70-member House. The BJP were projected to get 22 to 29 seats. Congress was being given zero to five. Polling ended with a record voter turnout of 67.08%.
The ABP-Nielsen survey, as of 3 PM gave the Aam Aadmi Party 39 seats and the BJP 28 seats. Any party will need at least 36 seats to form a government in Delhi.
The Times Now-C-Voter survey said the AAP was poised to win 31-39 seats and the BJP 27-35.
The India Today-Cicero put the AAP tally at 35-43 seats and of the BJP at 23-29.
The NDTV survey said the AAP could win 38 seats and the BJP 29.
The Axis-APM poll, however, credited 53 seats to the AAP and 17 to the BJP.
As expected, seats of Congress would be reduced to less than 5.
Today’s Chanakya also said that all social classes in the capital – Dalits, Muslims, Brahmins, OBCs, Banias and Punjabis – had voted in favor of the AAP. The percentage of Muslims voting for the AAP was as high as 71%.
The elections are significant as a defeat for BJP may bolster the opposition while a victory for the party will increase its confidence ahead of Assembly polls in Bihar later this year.
Kejriwal, who led AAP’s spirited campaign, today exuded confidence of getting a clear mandate for his party as he said truth will triumph in the polls.
Elections took place in Delhi after over a year. An AAP government led by Kejriwal had stepped down from office in February 2014 after being in power for just 49 days.
The BJP, which has been out of power in Delhi for 16 years, initially banked on the “Modi wave” to carry it to power in the Delhi assembly but later roped in former IPS officer Kiran Bedi and named her as its chief ministerial candidate.
The AAP, which had been under a cloud after Kejriwal quit as chief minister in February last year when he failed to push through an anti-corruption law, surged back into the reckoning by appealing to youngsters and the middle class.
Observers have described the Delhi assembly polls as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but this has been rejected by the BJP.
