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Political leaders across parties reacted sharply to exit poll projections for the 2026 Assembly elections, with BJP leaders expressing confidence in victory while opposition parties dismissed the forecasts as unreliable and detached from ground realities.

BJP Says Bengal Win Certain

Reacting to exit poll projections for West Bengal, BJP leader Manoj Tiwari said the party expects to outperform the numbers being projected.

"Since the situation of West Bengal was such that maximum people were predicting neck-to-neck fight, but we were believing we had an upper hand, after the high first phase of polling, we got sure that BJP will be winning, and in the second phase of polling, there is again more than 90 pc voting percentage, it shows that BJP will come to power," Manoj Tiwari said. 

The figures of the exit polls are lesser than expected, he said, adding, that BJP will be getting more than 180 seats.

"I did campaigning in 36 constituencies, we saw the rallies of PM Narendra Modi, it seems he is raring to make Bengal according to its lineage, Amit Shah worked hard, Nitin Nabin's management, all are going to work,” he further added.

West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya also struck an aggressive note on the party’s “Khela Hobe” slogan.

“Khela toh ho gaya. Khel khatam hai. This election was Janta vs Mamata. No vote to Mamata. Khela khatam...”

On exit polls for West Bengal elections, BJP candidate from Nandigram and Bhabanipur, Suvendu Adhikari, says, "I'm telling you the exit poll from the ground. BJP is getting more than 180 seats. BJP is forming the government with a majority. Hindus have cast their votes freely."

TMC Rejects Bengal Exit Polls

Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh dismissed the exit poll projections for West Bengal.

“Exit polls are baseless, we trust 'Maa, Mati and Manush'”. He further said, “The exit polls are baseless...It has nothing to do with the ground reality...We will win more than 235 seats and the BJP will not even win more than 50 seats”.

BJP Confident In Tamil Nadu Outcome

In Chennai, BJP leader Vinoj P Selvam said the election in Tamil Nadu had shown a markedly different turnout pattern from previous years.

“Beyond all exit polls, what is very important is the people's mandate. This election is very different from all the previous elections which Tamil Nadu has seen. If you notice the trend in Tamil Nadu, usually, polling is very high in the last one hour between 5 PM and 6 PM. But this election, the polling was maximum between 7 AM and 9 AM, even during the extremely hot hours of say between 11 AM and 3 PM, voting was the turnout was very high in number," said Vinoj P Selvam.

"By 3 PM, the polling had already crossed about 82%, which goes to say a lot about the mood of the people. The results of which will be reflected very clearly on the 4th May, and EPS will again be seated as the Chief Minister, and Tamil Nadu will again be back to its glorious ways of gaining and winning rather than losing out on industries, on businesses and on various verticals to neighbouring states," he further added.

Congress Leaders Question Reliability Of Exit Polls

Congress MP Rajesh Thakur raised concerns over the credibility of exit poll projections.

“Exit polls are out again, but as always they differ from the real results. Some are shown to please one side, others to please the other, raising questions about the Election Commission and even EVMs. A doubt is created through exit polls, with figures shifting district by district in ways that cannot be verified while voting is still underway,” he said.

Congress MP Tariq Anwar also questioned the value of such surveys and said, “Opinion polls cannot be fully trusted. Congress has always maintained that there is no need to rely on such polls. In Assam, reports suggest a close fight, while in Kerala, opinion has long favoured Congress. In Bengal, the BJP is being projected ahead, but we see no reason for that. The use of government machinery and central forces is worrying, raising concerns for democracy.”