Gadkari questions accuracy of exit polls

NEW DELHI: A day after Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu mocked the exit polls, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said the exit polls are not the "final decision" but indicate that the BJP will once again come to power.

"Exit polls are not the final decision, but are indications. But, by and large, what comes out in the exit polls also reflects in the results," Gadkari said while talking to reporters after launch of a new poster of the forthcoming Bollywood biopic "PM Narendra Modi".

Twelve of 14 exit polls predicted the NDA getting a full majority with seats ranging from 282 to 365. A party or an alliance needs 271 seats to form the government as Lok Sabha elections were held on 542 of the 543 seats.

The exit polls predicted the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance getting 82 to 165 seats. Six exit polls predicted that 'other' parties were likely to get more seats than the UPA.

The former BJP chief asserted that the new BJP-led government will be formed under Prime Minister Modi's leadership as elections were fought under him.

His remarks came a day after the Vice President said that the "exit polls do not mean exact polls".

"We have to understand that. Since 1999, most of the exit polls have gone wrong," Naidu said during his address in Guntur.

"Everyone exhibits his own confidence till the 23rd (day of counting). There will be no base for it. So we have to wait for 23rd.

"Country and the state need an able leader and stable government, whoever it be. That's what is required. That's all," he had said.