A day before the 2019 poll results, CPI-M's West Bengal Secretary Surjya Kanta Misra on Wednesday said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will be defeated and the strength of leftist forces will increase across the country, proving the exit polls predictions incorrect.
The exit polls predicted a thumping victory for the NDA and projected that the Left parties will witness a sharp decline in their seat share across the country, including in Bengal, in the 2019 polls.
"No matter what is shown in the exit polls, we believe that the BJP-led NDA will be defeated, an alternative secular government will be formed and the strength of leftist forces will increase," Misra told reporters here.
"The number and the public mandate is a big thing in any election, keeping that in mind we are saying the leftist forces will increase both its strength as well as the number of seats," he said.
Referring to the exit polls after 2004 elections which predicted a victory for the NDA, only to be proven wrong after the results, Misra said that "whenever the exit polls predicted a BJP victory, it has actually lost the elections".
However, when asked how many seats the Left parties may win in Bengal, the CPI-M leader refused to quote any specific number.
Pointing out that the exit polls held after Australia's national elections last week were proved "completely wrong", Misra said there is an "unfortunate global trend" of conducting manipulative exit polls to inflate the sensex.
"It is unfortunate that there is trend of trying to inflate the sensex through the exit polls. It leads to profit for handful of big industrialists but the common people who invest in the market, lose their money," he said.
Misra said the party has asked its counting agents to be careful not to fall prey to any form of provocation or rumour and match the unique identification numbers on the EVMs with the lists provided to them.
"Also, there can be attempts to inflict tension after a few rounds of counting. People must cautious about this," he said.
Referring to the violence in North 24 Parganas district's Bhatpara, following the assembly bypolls on May 19, Misra alleged that the political battle between BJP and Trinamool is given communal colour by both parties to polarise the people in the area.
"We appeal to the people of the state to maintain the tradition of the state and be united to maintain peace. We have also informed the state administration and the EC about the clashes and given list of communally-sensitive regions," he added.
--IANS
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