Exit polls predicted advantage to NC-Congress; Omar calls it ‘time-pass’, BJP remains hopeful

JAMMU: Most of the exit polls predicted that the Congress-NC alliance has an advantage in the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir but the BJP remained hopeful of forming the government in the Union territory.

National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah, however, described the exit polls as “just time pass” even though the results are in favour of his party.

“I’m amazed channels are bothering with exit polls especially after the fiasco of the recent general elections. I’m ignoring all the noise on channels, social media, WhatsApp etc. because the only numbers that matter will be revealed on the 8th of Oct. The rest is just time pass,” Abdullah, a former chief minister, wrote on X.

Several exit polls gave an edge to the NC-Congress alliance and predicted that the regional party could emerge as the single-largest party in J&K.

Reacting to the exit poll predictions, J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina said his party contested the assembly polls with all its strength.

“We are confident that BJP will emerge as the single largest party when the results are out on October 8,” he said.

Raina said the BJP leadership that included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party president J P Nadda campaigned for the party and got tremendous support from the people.

“BJP will emerge victorious on October 8 and will start working on the formation of the government. We fought the elections on our own strength. Our target is to win the elections with the blessings of the people and we will achieve splendid victory,” he said.

J&K Congress president Tair Hameed Karra said the Congress-NC alliance is in a comfortable position to form the next government in the Union territory.

“This election was primarily to keep the BJP out of the power corridors, restoration of statehood along with land and job guarantees. I am seeing the (Congress-NC) alliance in a comfortable position to form the government,” Karra said.

He said the mandate of the people is formation of the government against “divisive forces and hatemongers”.

“People voted for redressal of their genuine grievances as they suffered a lot over the past 10 years with the top echelons of power both in the Raj Bhavan and Civil Secretariat working like kings. The BJP needs to explain to the people what they have done in the past 10 years,” Karra said.

He said the BJP has no moral right to accuse the NC and Congress of reviving terrorism and said, “Everyone knows that terrorism shifted from Kashmir to the peaceful Jammu region. Only the goal post has changed in the past 10 years.”

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said the exit polls were not reliable and it was too premature to talk about government formation.

“We have seen that exit polls are not reliable. What matters are the numbers that will come at the end of counting,” senior PDP leader Naeem Akhtar told PTI.

Asked if the PDP will support the NC-Congress coalition if need be, Akhtar said it was premature to comment on that.

“They might not even need our support. Finally, a decision on this matter will be taken by the party. All said and done, we are still part of the INDIA bloc. We have not gone anywhere,” he added.

The C-Voter-India Today survey predicted 40-48 seats for the NC-Congress alliance and put the BJP at 27-32 seats in the 90-member J&K assembly.

Dainik Bhaskar pegged the NC-Congress alliance at 35-40 and the BJP at 20-25.

Peoples’ Pulse saw the NC-Congress alliance with 46-50 seats as against the BJP’s 23-27, while Republic-Gulistan put the the NC-Congress tally lower at 31-36 as against the BJP’s 28-30.

In different polls, the PDP was seen winning between 5 and 12 seats, while other candidates were also seen bagging 4-16 seats.

The results of the assembly elections will be announced on October 8. (PTI)