Delhi Elections: Cong Expecting a ‘Surprise’, Rejects Exit Polls

Almost all exit polls predicted little change in the fortunes of the Congress party.

Image of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Erum Gour / The Quint)

A day after voting in Delhi Assembly elections, the Congress on Sunday, 9 February rubbished the exit poll results, most of which predicted little or no change in the party's fortunes from 2015 polls, saying the result on 11 February will "surprise everyone".

Almost all exit polls predicted little change in the fortunes of the Congress, which had ruled the city between 1998 and 2013 but drew a blank in the 2015 polls.

"Let others celebrate the exit poll results. I am confident that the results on 11 February will startle everyone," chief spokesperson of Delhi Congress Mukesh Sharma said.

The party's Delhi unit president Subhash Chopra told reporters that all his party candidates contested with full strength. "There are at least 20 candidates of the Congress who were involved in keen triangular contests. We reject the exit poll results."

Congress contested the Delhi Assembly polls in alliance with the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD). It fielded candidates on 66 seats leaving four for the RJD.

"We fielded the best candidates on all seats, campaigned sincerely and are positive of good performance," said Sharma who himself contested from Vikaspuri seat.

If Congress sources are to be believed, the party hopes to win some seats provided the minorities voters chose it over the AAP. “There are nearly 10 seats that Congress has a good chance of winning. However, it will depend on how the minorities voters cast their votes,” they said.

The final voter turnout in the Delhi polls was 62.59 per cent, down from 67.47 per cent in 2015 assembly election, with exit polls predicting an easy win for AAP, which sought to retain power on development plank, against the BJP that ran an aggressive campaign centred around the issues of anti-CAA protests and nationalism.