Kher set to retain seat, say exit polls

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 20

Exit polls have indicated that local MP Kirron Kher is set to retain her seat from Chandigarh.

According to the state-wise exit poll reports of India TV, Times Now and India Today, the local BJP leader is set to win the elections. The results will be out on May 23. Some agencies, however, did not have Chandigarh specific results.

“I am confident that the BJP will win by a big margin,” Kher told Chandigarh Tribune. She is in a contest with former Railway Minister and Congress candidate Pawan Kumar Bansal and former Union Minister and AAP candidate Harmohan Dhawan.

Her two opponents, however, have trashed the exit polls. “Honestly, I never understood exit polls. How can you judge a large number of people and their spontaneous outpouring support like this. I cannot ignore the support of the people I got while being on the move from 10 am to 6 pm in different booths where people were voting yesterday. We will surely win,” said Bansal, a four-time MP.

Dhawan said, “These exit polls are one-sided and cannot be trusted. On ground, if you see, all are against Kher, she will get some votes in the name of Modi. People are angry with both the Congress and the BJP as issues in villages and sectors have not been resolved.”

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the celebrity-turned-politician, in her maiden political fight, had trounced Bansal by a record margin of 69,642 votes. Kher had got 1,91,362 votes of the total 4,53,455 polled. Her nearest rivals, Bansal and AAP’s Gul Panag had secured 1,21,720 and 1,08,362 votes, respectively.