Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath claimed that the BJP will form the next government at the Centre under Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a "massive mandate" of "300 plus seats" of the BJP and "400 plus" of the NDA allies.
However, Opposition leaders questioned the reliability of the polls and asserted that the Exit Polls are not always true in their forecast.
Chandrababu Naidu’s response to Exit Polls:
In Andhra Pradesh, as the Polls predicted a rout for Telugu Desam Party, its president N Chandrababu Naidu said on Sunday night that time and again such polls failed.
"Time and again exit polls have failed to catch the people's pulse. Exit polls have proved to be incorrect and far from ground reality in many instances. While undoubtedly TDP govt will be formed in AP, we are confident that non-BJP parties will form a non-BJP govt at the center (sic)," Naidu said in a late night tweet.
Barring one or two, almost all exit polls predicted a thumping victory for the main opposition YSR Congress in the state elections.
Mamata Banerjee’s response:
Dubbing exit polls as "gossip", West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said she doesn't trust such surveys as the "game plan" is to use them for "manipulation" of EVMs.
"I don't trust Exit Poll gossip. The game plan is to manipulate or replace thousands of EVMs through this gossip. I appeal to all Opposition parties to be united, strong and bold. We will fight this battle together," Banerjee said in a tweet.
The Bengal BJP was quick to hit back, asking Banerjee to "stop living in denial" as the days of her TMC government in West Bengal are numbered.
Most exit polls forecast a majority for the ruling BJP-led NDA in Lok Sabha elections with varying numbers, as the seven-phase democratic exercise ended Sunday.
The BJP West Bengal unit in a tweet asked Banerjee to stop giving lame excuses.
"Stop living in denial.@mamataofficial didi. You are confirming the exit poll results by coming up with bad excuses for an enormous defeat. Your days are numbered and only @bjp4bengal can build the new 'Sonar Bangla'. TMC defeat will ensure a new beginning for West Bengal," the BJP said.
Congress:
Shashi Tharoor of the Congress claimed that exit polls are all wrong and cited the Australian polls, where various surveys proved wrong, to make his point.
"I believe the exit polls are all wrong. In Australia last weekend, 56 different exit polls proved wrong. In India many people don't tell pollsters the truth fearing they might be from the Government. Will wait till 23rd for the real results," the Kerala MP tweeted.
Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha said silent voters will be king on May 23. "The silent voter will be king on May 23 rd 2019. The 'fear factor' playing havoc with respondents to pollsters in an ugly polarized election. Ridiculous #ExitPolls, almost laughable. UPA > NDA when the real counting happens," Jha said.
CPI:
CPI's D Raja played down the forecasts, saying they are merely trends. "These are exit polls. These are merely trends. We will have to wait and see the real results. We have seen in the past that these results are merely surveys and have sometimes proved right and sometimes wrong. We have to see the real results," he said.