INDIA bloc 'very strong', BJP in panic after bypoll results: Kejriwal
New Delh (PTI): A day after the INDIA bloc parties won four seats out of seven in the Assembly bypolls, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the BJP is in panic as the opposition alliance is "very strong".
In a post on X, the Delhi chief minister shared a media report of the results of the bypolls and said, "INDIA alliance is very strong. This is the reason for the BJP's panic. This is the reason that the BJP wants to change the name of the country."
The by-election results for seven assembly seats in six states were declared on Friday with the BJP winning three seats and one each going to its rivals Congress, the JMM, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Samajwadi Party (SP).
The opposition alliance tasted victory in the Ghosi Assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh, where it backed the Samajwadi Party, and in Jharkhand, where the JMM retained the Dumri assembly seat.
The BJP maintained its hold on the Bageshwar Assembly seat in Uttarakhand and Dhanpur in Tripura and wrested the Boxanagar assembly seat from the CPI(M) in the northeastern state, where the INDIA alliance parties had joined hands. The BJP lost the Dhupguri Assembly seat in West Bengal to the TMC.
The AAP is a member of the INDIA bloc that has yet to discuss and finalise a seat-sharing formula in different states to counter the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls next year.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
