The exit poll figures for Bengal will not be announced by Axis My India since the people in Bengal are not ready to talk. “There is such an environment of fear,” which is affecting the methodology of sampling and leaving them with incomplete data, said Pradeep Gupta, the chief of Axis My India.
In an exclusive interview, Gupta told NDTV: “We saw that when 70 to 80 per cent of people are not ready to talk to us. So the methodology of our sampling process is not working properly. So we have now decided that it would be better in such a situation that the poll is not announced”.
Read: Bengal Sees 92.47% Voter Turnout, Highest Since Independence
“They will not tell you at all. They look at the camera people and then there will be trouble… There is such an atmosphere of fear,” he added.
The situation, he indicated, has worsened following yesterday’s election, in which violence took place at several spots.
“Everyone is getting into scuffles, they are bleeding, stones are being thrown at the car,” he added.
The West Bengal assembly has 294 seats, with 148 needed for a majority.
Of the six exit polls that declared their figures yesterday as the second and final phase of polling ended in Bengal, four predicted a BJP victory. Two said Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress will come back to power. All the agencies, though, agree that the Congress and the Left parties are set for a dismal performance once again.