Elections 2009: Exit polls off the target by miles

         The exit polls which are generally termed as a result before a result have  got it wrong once again. Though they predicted that Congress led UPA would outdo the NDA, the difference between the predicted and actual margin seems to say that the exit polls are a futile exercise aimed at getting just television viewership rather than a serious effort.

          Now the results are out the UPA leads the NDA by a hefty 100+ seats, whereas the exit polls had predicted a close result. Besides the Third Front which was predicted to get cross the three figure mark but actually they got only half of that. The exit polls had predicted that the UPA would get 185-205, the BJP 135-150 seats and the Third Front bagging 110-130 seats. 

       The exit polls had predicted that the BSP would get around 35 seats whereas it has got only 21 seats. Besides AIADMK was predicted to get 23-29 seats wereas it managed to get only 8 seats.

        Even in the 2004 assembly elections the exit polls were off the mark when it was predicted that BJP led NDA would win by a huge margin, but in reality the Congress led UPA won and formed the government.