Exit polls used to create false impression: Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru, May 20

Slamming the exit poll results, which projected a big win for the BJP-led NDA government in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday said their predictions were being used to create a false impression of a Modi wave across the country.

“The artificially engineered or manufactured Modi wave is being used by the BJP to lure regional parties well in advance to fill any shortfall after the results on May 23,” said a miffed Kumaraswamy in a series of tweets.

Noting that the exit poll exercise was an effort to create a false impression of a wave in favour of one particular leader and his party, Kumaraswamy said undue importance should not be given to polls, which just give temporary numbers.

Sharing the concern of the Opposition parties on the credibility of the electronic voting machines (EVMs), the Chief Minister said they even knocked the doors of the Supreme Court to revert to the traditional ballot paper elections in order to avoid defective machines that are vulnerable to fraud.

Most exit polls have predicted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win more seats (18-23) than the ruling Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and Congress combine, which fielded joint candidates in all the 28 parliamentary constituencies in the southern state.

As part of a pre-poll seat-sharing arrangement, the Congress contested in 21 and the JD-S in 7 constituencies.

The BJP contested 27 seats and supported south Indian multi-lingual film actor Sumalatha Ambareesh, who is in the fray as an Independent from Mandya, against Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Gowda, grandson of JD-S supremo H.D. Deve Gowda.

In the 2014 General Election, the BJP had won 17 seats, Congress 9 and JD-S 2. — IANS