As the re-polling in Old Malakpet division of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation concluded at 6 pm, the focus has now shifted on the exit polls conducted by various agencies, though hardly a few hours are left for the outcome of the actual result.
Almost all the survey agencies have given an edge to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and a rise in strength to the Bharatiya Janata Party. They, however, differed on margin of victory for the TRS.
According to People’s Pulse, a Hyderabad-based survey agency, the TRS is likely to get 68-78 seats in the 150-seat GHMC. This is a big fall for the ruling party, which had won 99 seats in the 2016 GHMC elections. However, the TRS will cross the magic figure of 76 and capture power once again.
The BJP is likely to get 25-35 seats, which is a tremendous improvement over its tally of four seats in 2016. If there is a silent wave, the tally for the BJP might cross over 40 seats, says the survey.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen is expected to get 38-42 seats, a few less than 44 seats it had got in 2016. The Congress will end up with one to five seats.
The People’s Pulse predicted that the TRS will get 38 per cent of vote share, compared to 32 per cent of the BJP, 13 per cent of MIM, 12 per cent of the Congress and five per cent polled by others.
The survey predicts there is going to be tight fight in many divisions and every vote counts in the victory of the candidate because of multi-cornered contest and less polling percentage.
Another survey agency Pulse Today predicts 86 to 90 seats for the TRS, 18-20 seats for the BJP, 34-38 seats for MIM and 1-2 seats for the Congress.
Exit polls by another popular agency Aara revealed that TRS might get 78 seats (plus or minus 7), followed by MIM 41 seats, BJP 28 seats and Congress three seats.
Another poll agency “Third Vision” has projected landslide victory for the TRS. According to it, the TRS will easily get 95-101 seats, while MIM will get 35-38 seats. The BJP will get only five to 12 seats and the Congress just one.
