The exit poll that came closest to Congress’ seat tally
Gupta said his agency polled 23,000 people across Haryana -- at least 200 interviews in each constituency. He added that he interviewed at least 400 people himself. That’s clearly paid off.
At 9am on Thursday, Pradeep Gupta’s phone started ringing. It didn’t stop ringing through the day.
On October 22, Gupta’s Axis My India predicted that the Congress would win 32-40 seats in Haryana. The finding came a day after almost all other exit polls predicted a sweep for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state. Gupta says that he delayed announcing his poll by a day because he could not believe the findings of his team.
“I requested 24 more hours from the India Today media group (where the Axis My India exit polls were being aired) to tally the findings myself, as all other studies showed a sweep. Over 90% of our survey findings indicated a hung assembly,” says Gupta.
This is not the first time that Gupta’s team has taken a unique stand -- only to be proved right. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, he predicted 339-365 seats for the BJP-led NDA, Gupta and his team were at the receiving end of widespread criticism and ridicule. On May 23, when the results proved him right, Gupta almost broke down on air.
Gupta said his agency polled 23,000 people across Haryana -- at least 200 interviews in each constituency. He added that he interviewed at least 400 people himself. That’s clearly paid off.
