‘I Am Getting Calls…’: Yogendra Yadav, Who Predicted Congress Storm in Haryana, Posts Clarification Video

The results of the Haryana assembly elections have proved exit poll predictions wrong, with the BJP bagging 48 seats in the 90-member Assembly and adding eight seats to its 2019 tally.

After the BJP’s remarkable win in the state for the third-straight term, psephologist and political activist Yogendra Yadav issued a clarification about his prediction, while raising some questions about the election results.

Before the results, Yogendra Yadav had claimed that the mood in Haryana is largely in favour of the Congress and the party may win the Assembly polls by a significant margin. However, after the results, many questioned the accuracy of Yadav’s prediction.

It should be noted that Yadav had earlier predicted that the opposition INDIA bloc would win a sizeable chunk of seats in the Lok Sabha elections, contrary to other Lok Sabha exit poll predictions back in June. Following the results, Yadav was lauded my many on social media for his accurate prediction.

However, now that his predictions for Haryana came a cropper, Yadav issued a video clarification on X, in which he admitted to being “surprised” by the results.

“I am getting calls and messages from friends everywhere. Everyone is asking what happened? To tell you the truth, I do not understand this at all. I was roaming around Haryana for the last one month. Though I had said that I will not predict the election, but I was writing, speaking, giving speeches based on the assumption that Congress is clearly ahead,” Yadav said.

“I had said on multiple occasions that the Congress will form the government. I could not determine whether it was a wind or a storm in favour of the Congress. But what happened today was completely different. It was neither a wind nor a storm. Rather, the result was completely opposite. I have roamed around a lot during this election. I did not find anyone, not even among the BJP supporters, who expected that the BJP will win by a majority. The debate was only on how far the Congress would be ahead,” Yadav added.

The poll analyst noted that, based on trends from the last two Lok Sabha elections, the BJP’s vote count typically dropped in the Haryana assembly elections, a pattern which was expected this time as well.

“We roamed around on the ground and spoke with ordinary voters. I do not speak unless I do this. I observed that the Congress was ahead,” Yadav said, acknowledging that mistakes are possible.

He also referred to the Congress allegation of EVM tampering in Haryana.

“Congress claimed that during counting, some EVMs were found which were up to 99% charged. It was found that the Congress performed poorly in those areas where the batteries were 99% charged as compared to those areas where the EVMs had less charge… This suggests that the EVMs may have been tampered with… I am not saying that this is completely true. We do not have any proof of this… It is the responsibility of the Election Commission to come forth with all facts and give a clarification to the country to alleviate such speculation in the minds of people,” he said.

Yadav suggested that the Congress should identify its electoral shortcomings.

“We have to analyse the mistakes we made. Did we fall short of the efforts that were needed to compete with the BJP-RSS? Today’s result does not nullify the effect of the farmers’ movement. Rather, it is because of the movement that the Congress emerged as a strong player in the electoral contest,” he said.