Axis My India's Pradeep Gupta Breaks Down On TV As His Exit Polls Prediction Goes Off Track; Watch Video

Axis My India chairman and managing director Pradeep Gupta broke down during a television interview after his firm’s exit poll went completely off track, as results of the Lok Sabha elections came in on Tuesday. The latest counting trends showed that the ruling NDA maintained a steady lead of around 290 seats with the BJP ahead on 239 seats.

In contrast, on June 1, Axis My India’s exit polls had predicted a landslide victory for the NDA with 361 to 401 seats with the upper limit adhering to the BJP’s ‘400 paar’ poll slogan. The firm predicted a clean sweep for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, with other poll pundits also saying this might be the saffron party’s biggest mandate ever. But, the results so far are not as reflective of the majority of the exit polls.

Axis My India had predicted 131 to 166 seats for the INDIA bloc, much lower than the numbers on counting day as the opposition front is leading on 235 seats. The Election Commission of India at 6 pm said the BJP-led NDA has 290 leads while the INDIA bloc has 235.

Discussing the results on television as part of an election discussion panel, Gupta could not control his emotions and broke down. The anchor consoled him while fellow panelists calmed him down. Earlier in the day, Gupta spoke to news agency ANI about the election results. “Axis My India has done exit polls continuously for the last 10 years. We have done that for 69 elections, including two Lok Sabha elections. Our predictions have been correct 65 times… and in these 65 times, every opposition party including the Congress has won one or the other time.”

“As far as credibility is concerned, people who are raising questions should have a look at our track record, they will be satisfied,” he added.