New Delhi: Chanakya on Thursday predicted a major victory for the BJP in West Bengal, while News18 predicted a tough contest for the BJP in its exit polls.In Tamil Nadu, where Chanakya today handed majority to the DMK and its allies, actor Vijay-led TVK has emerged as the X-factor that could push the AIADMK-BJP combination to third place.While most exit polls gave the BJP an edge in West Bengal, Chanakya Today predicted the party would lead by a wide margin, with 48 per cent of the vote compared to the ruling TMC’s 38 per cent, giving both parties a 3 per cent lead. It was said that this would mean 192 (plus or minus 11) seats for the BJP and 100 (plus or minus 11) seats for the TMC in the 294-member Assembly. News 18 predicts that the BJP will get 143 to 163 seats and the TMC will get 127 to 147 seats. The two parties are expected to get 44% and 43% of the votes respectively.Today’s Chanakya said that in Tamil Nadu, the DMK alliance will get 125 seats and TVK 63 seats in the 234-member assembly. It gave the United Front an edge in Kerala and predicted a landslide victory for the BJP in Assam, a prediction that was in line with the general direction of other polls. Another pollster, Axis My India, decided not to publish its forecast for West Bengal because of “extremely high non-response rates”, with about 70 per cent of voters surveyed declining to participate in the survey.“Rejection rates of this magnitude far exceed historical norms and introduce a high degree of non-response bias,” the report said.
