Kolkata. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said exit poll estimates do not match ground realities as they were “home-made” two months ago. She claimed such exit polls have no value and criticised the media for reporting them.
He told TV9 Bangla, “We saw how exit polls were done in 2016, 2019 and 2021. None of the predictions came true.” Banerjee said, “These exit polls were made by some people at home for the media two months ago. They have no value.” He said that the response of people in his rallies did not match the predictions of the exit polls.
The chief minister said, “The way the BJP tried to polarise and spread false information that Muslims are snatching away reservations of SC, ST and OBCs, I don’t think Muslims will vote for the BJP. And, I think the CPI(M) and Congress helped the BJP in West Bengal.” Most exit polls have predicted that the BJP will get more seats than the Trinamool Congress in the state.
On the prospects of the opposition alliance ‘India’, he said, “Akhilesh (Yadav), Tejashwi (Yadav), Stalin (M.K. Stalin) and Uddhav (Thackeray) will do well. Regional parties will do well everywhere.” He was also asked whether his relations with the CPI(M) and Congress in West Bengal would affect his chances of joining the government if ‘India’ comes to power at the Centre.
Banerjee said, “I don’t think there will be any hindrance at the all-India level, unless the CPI(M) interferes.” He said, “Look, every regional party has its own honour, and after talking to everyone, if we are invited then we will go. We will also take other regional parties along. But first let the election results come.” Meanwhile, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar claimed that his party will win at least 25 seats in West Bengal, but I will be really happy if we get 30 seats.
He said, “When I took over as the state president two and a half years ago, I had said that we will cross the 25 mark in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, but many people even in my party did not believe me. Now not only my party, but the press and the people of the state also believe that we will get more than 25 seats.” CPI(M) Central Committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that the exit poll predictions cannot be trusted.