Goa Election 2022 Exit Polls: TMC's Saket Gokhale takes a jibe at BJP's projected win

While the results of the Goa Assembly election 2022 will be out on March 10, several exit polls have projected that the coastal state might be heading for another hung assembly, much like the cliffhanger of 2017. Data indicates both BJP and the Congress will end up with around 15-18 seats each in the 40-member house. The kingmaker is likely to be Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, which might win 2-4 seats.

Also read: Goa Election 2022 Exit Polls LIVE: Hung assembly likely; TMC to be kingmaker

Even as the debate over who will form the next government in the state continues across social media, TMC's National Spokesperson Saket Gokhale slammed one exit poll, which gave BJP 18 seats and projected the ruling party as 'winner' when the halfway mark for a majority is 21.

"Where are the remaining 3 MLAs supposed to come from?" asked the TMC national spokesperson.

"Are suitcase, resort, & chartered jet politics already normalized in these "exit polls"?" Gokhale added.

"3 MLAs = 7.5% of the legislature considering Goa has only 40 seats. Pretty bizarre to see a party with a projected shortfall of 3 MLAs being shown as a possible winner. Delhi channels really need to venture out of North India," he remarked in a tweet thread.

Earlier today, sitting CM Pramod Sawant expressed confidence that his government will return to power in the coastal state. "BJP will get 18-22 seats in Goa & will form the govt. Our priority is to complete infrastructure projects of our double engine govt. As per exit polls also, BJP will return to power in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur and will have good performance in Punjab," Goa CM Pramod Sawant, who has fielded from the Sanquelim seat, said.

To recall, after a rigorous campaign in Goa, the state went into polling on February 14 to decide the fate of 301 candidates for 40 Assembly seats. 

The BJP, which has not entered into any pre-poll alliance, is trying to retain power in the coastal state. The Congress wants to avert a repeat of the 2017 fiasco in Goa when the party failed to take power despite emerging as the single largest in the election.

Also read: Goa Election 2022: Show is not over yet; the numbers game is on

Earlier today, AICC's Goa desk head Dinesh Gundu Rao said that if the Congress fails to reach the magic number (21), the party is open to getting support from AAP, TMC and MGP. Rao said that after the final result is out, Congress will waste no time electing its Leader. "If Congress gets a majority, we will stake claim to form a government the same day," he added. 

The single-phase Assembly elections in Goa saw a high voter turnout of 78.94 per cent in polling for the 40 assembly seats. According to official data of the Chief Electoral Officer, the highest voter turnout was recorded in the Sanquelim constituency with 89.61 per cent, while the lowest was in Benaulim with 70.2 per cent. The smallest state in the country, Goa only has two districts-- North Goa and South Goa. North Goa registered a maximum turnout of 79 per cent, while South Goa stood at 78 per cent.

Also read: Goa Election 2022: 78.94 per cent voter turn out recorded

The Congress won 17 of 40 seats in Goa in the 2017 election, but the BJP, after winning 13 seats, took power with help from smaller parties and independents. Two years later, 15 Congress MLAs switched to the BJP, led by the Congress's Leader of Opposition, Babu Kavlekar, who the BJP made Deputy Chief Minister.

• Goa Election 2022
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