Exit polls for Western Maharashtra: BJP says predictions wrong, MVA hopes for a comeback

Umesh Patil, spokesperson for NCP–led by Ajit Pawar, which is part of the Mahayuti, also concurred that in Mahayuti, everyone is expecting to win 32–35 seats. “The atmosphere has been positive for Mahayuti and NDA in Maharashtra. All three parties worked in unity and made an aggressive effort to campaign. PM Narendra Modi himself led from the front, and the CM and both Dy CMs played their role to perfection. We will also do far better in Western Maharashtra than predicted by exit polls.”

Patil said they will win Baramati by a margin of over one lakh votes. ”Sunetra Pawar will win Baramati for us. In other seats there will be close contests,” he claimed.
However, MVA leaders who have rejected the exit polls at national level, said they were expecting more wins than what is predicted by exit polls by various TV channels in tandem with private agencies. ”We don’t want to go into exit poll predictions. MVA will win 30–35 seats in Maharashtra. And in Western Maharashtra, the number will be higher than exit poll predictions,” said Sanjay Raut, Sena (UBT) spokesperson. Raut said exit polls were a ”corporate game and fraud”. ‘

‘Our predictions are based after analysing the mood, the atmosphere and feedback we get from ground level. We know the under current. The mood is against Modi sarkar. People resent the way BJP grabbed power in Maharashtra by breaking up parties. The state will never accept dubious tactics and will teach them a lesson,” he said.

Vijay Wadettiwar, Opposition leader in state Assembly, said, ”We reject exit polls, they are conducted at the behest of the ruling party. In Maharashtra, we won’t get less than 35 seats.” NCP (SP) spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said whatever be the predictions of the exit polls, MVA will do far better this time around. ”It will be 7 seats or more out of 10 in Western Maharashtra,” Tapase said.

The seats of Western Maharashtra include Pune, Baramati, Shirur, Maval, Madha, Satara, Kolhapur, Sangli, Hatkanangle and Solapur constituencies. In 2019 elections, the BJP-led alliance had secured 7 seats while the undivided NCP had won three seats. This time, several exit polls are predicting that the figures will turn on their head, with MVA getting 7 and BJP-led Mahayuti getting three seats or two seats. Western Maharashtra was a Congress and NCP bastion, until it was snatched by BJP-led alliance in 2014, and remained with it in 2019. This time, though, MVA is hoping for a strong comeback.

In Pune, while three exit polls have predicted a victory for Murlidhar Mohol, the Congress said there was no way Ravindra Dhangekar would lose. ”We have no doubt about Dhangekar’s victory. The exit poll will fall flat on its face on June 4. Dhangekar will win by over 90,000 votes,” said Mohan Joshi of the Congress, the campaign chief of Dhangekar.

BJP Pune city spokesperson Sandeep Khardekar said, “Exit polls have confirmed what we had been saying. Murlidhar Mohol will win by a huge margin of two lakh votes. Dhangekar will be nowhere near.”

The NCP (S-P) said that exit polls have predicted Sule’s victory as there was no other choice. ”We have repeatedly said that Supriya Sule will win, come what may. The kind of work she has done in Baramati has made Maharashtra proud. People have shown faith in Sule because of how she has slogged for her constituency, and responded to people’s problems. Though rivals try to belittle her work, people have not believed them, nor have they liked the criticism,” Tapase said.

NCP’s Shirur candidate Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil refused to comment about his fate. ”Let the results come in…everything will become clear,” he said. Exit polls have, however, predicted victory for Amol Kolhe of NCP (S-P).
For Maval, exit polls have predicted a win for Shrirang Barne, and his camp has predicted he will win by over 3 lakh votes. ”Barne will win by a larger margin as compared with the last two elections,” said a Barne associate.