Post voting, pre-counting in Delhi: AAP watches movies, BJP junks exit polls, Maken takes blame

With exit polls predicting a big win for the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi 2015 elections, party chief Arvind Kejriwal, and other key leaders like Manish Sisodia, Kumar Vishwas and Ashutosh decided to take a break from election-related activities. According to a report in Times of India Kejriwal and co, went to see the film Baby near AAP chief’s Kasaumbhi resident. One volunteer told the paper, “People were fatigued and dying to have some fun. The film show was organized so that we could relax before the results are announced on Tuesday.” Another source told the paper that Kejriwal is “obsessed with watching films.” Kejriwal also tweeted to the party’s volunteers on Sunday, asking them to take a much deserved break.

Volunteers. U did an amazing job. Relax for 2 days. Spend wid ur family. Sleep. Watch movies. Meditate. Chill. God bless u.

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 8, 2015

Meanwhile BJP’s Delhi unit chief Satish Upadhyay on Sunday dismissed the ominous results of the exit polls and said that party would win by a comfortable majority in the Delhi assembly election under the leadership of Kiran Bedi. Speaking to reporters after a review meeting on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s performance in Saturday’s election, Upadhyay said the party will form the next government in Delhi. “We will win by a comfortable majority under the leadership of Kiran Bedi and form the next government in Delhi.” he said. Upadhyay, said he would not comment on the exit polls, only saying “But I am confident that we will win the elections.” The BJP Delhi unit chief also took a dig at AAP’s movie outing and was quoted by IANS as saying, ““They will get a lot of time to watch movies now.” [caption id=“attachment_2077039” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Arvind Kejriwal in this file photo. AFP[/caption] Talking to reporters, Bedi said: “A survey is just a survey, we should wait for the final result.”  Bedi said the party meeting was “useful” and hoped that the exit polls would be “proved wrong”. “Useful meeting of all candidates taken by President BJP, Delhi Pradesh. Very encouraging feedback. God willing the surveys wud (would) be proven wrong,” she tweeted. For the Congress’s Chief Ministerial candidate and former Union Minister Ajay Maken, the result of the exit polls appeared to have come as no surprise. According to a Times of India report, Maken said he was fully ready to take the blame for the debacle once the results are out. He told the paper, “I was the face of the party as the campaign committee chairman, so full responsibility for the party’s performance, whatever the outcome, will rest on me.” Maken’s statement sounds much in tune with the exit polls which have predicted a white wash for the Congress with the most generous poll giving the party only 5 seats. The exit polls have predicted a big win for AAP with the Axis one being the most optimistic about the party’s success, predicting that it will win 53 seats in the 70-seat Assembly. The most conservative estimates predict AAP winning 31 seats, which is three more than the seats it won in 2013 Assembly elections. The exit poll by Today’s Chanakya, which largely got the Delhi 2013 election outcome correct, predicted that AAP would win 48 seats, BJP 22 seats, and the Congress would not get a single seat. It also cautioned the outcome for the BJP and AAP could vary by up to 6 seats. The ABP Nielsen poll predicts the AAP winning 41 percent of the vote share while the BJP is expected to win 37 percent. The Congress is down to 15 percent. The India Today - Cicero Exit poll has predicted the AAP will finish with 42 percent of the voteshare, BJP with 36 percent, and Congress with 15 percent. The C-Voter survey predicted a 43 percent vote share for the AAP, 40 percent for the BJP, and 11 percent for the Congress. Only one exit poll has predicted a hung assembly. Datamineria’s exit poll, which gave the BJP 35 seats, 31 for AAP and 4 for the Congress. Here are some charts of the exit polls With inputs from IANS