Exit polls get the adrenalin flowing

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 21

The exit polls conducted by various agencies and new channels led to animated discussions among the people about the fate of 831 candidates who contested the Assembly elections.

Exit poll results are being circulated on social media, including the WhatsApp, and people in the state have been busy talking about the poll trends.

Interestingly, the discussions rarely finish without reaching a logical conclusion.

Candidates, on the other hand, are keeping their fingers crossed. The supporters/party workers are confident that their respective leader or party would emerge victorious. Nobody wants to hear that they don’t have a chance to win.

“We have been getting messages from all over, seeking our opinion about the results. Exit poll results are also being circulated. It shows the People Democratic Party and the BJP have got the edge over the others, but the truth will come out only on Tuesday,” said Mushtaq Ahmed, a Congress candidate from Shopian. “I am hopeful of winning my seat and am keeping my fingers crossed,” Ahmed added.

The counting of votes in all the 87 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir is scheduled to be held on December 23. However, the people are getting impatient with every passing hour.

“Everybody wants to know the result beforehand. Other issues don’t matter. Till the election results are out people will only discuss politics,” said Manohar Lal, a shopkeeper in the Jammu East constituency.

People in the Chenab valley are most excited. The voting on all the six seats of the region was held in the first phase of the Assembly elections on November 25.

“Till the time elections were not over in the entire state, we were not concerned about the counting. But now, everybody wants to know the results and it is becoming unbearable,” said Altaf Ahmed, a Doda resident.