Poll: Do You Trust Exit Polls?

The exit polls for the elections in five states will start coming out at 5 pm on 11 March.

Exit polls have never been known to be accurate (Photo: The Quint)

The exit polls for the elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur will start coming out at 5 pm on 11 March. For a large number of state and union elections, exit polls have missed the mark more times than they have hit it.

In 2016, during the Tamil Nadu State elections, many news agency’s were predicting a victory for the DMK party. ABP news went as far as to say that they would win 132 seats in comparison to the AIADMK’s 95. In reality, however, the AIADMK won a 134 seats and formed the majority government in the state.

At times, however, the media have been quite accurate with their assessment. During the Bengal State elections in 2016, India Today declared that Trinamool Congress would win 211 seats, easily forming the government. In reality, the TMC won a whopping 234 seats.