Congress rejects exit poll results, says Feb 11 results will 'startle everyone'

A day after voting in Delhi Assembly elections, the Congress on Sunday rubbished the exit poll results, most of which predicted little or no change in the party's fortunes from 2015 polls, saying the result on February 11 will "surprise everyone".

"Let others celebrate the exit poll results. I am confident that the results on February 11 will startle everyone," chief spokesperson of Delhi Congress Mukesh Sharma said.

The party's Delhi unit president Subhash Chopra told reporters that all his party candidates contested with full strength. "There are at least 20 candidates of the Congress who were involved in keen triangular contests. We reject the exit poll results."

Congress contested the Delhi Assembly polls in alliance with the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD).  It fielded candidates on 66 seats leaving four for the RJD.

"We fielded the best candidates on all seats, campaigned sincerely and are positive of good performance," said Sharma who himself contested from Vikaspuri seat.

If Congress sources are to be believed, the party hopes to win some seats provided the minorities voters chose it over the AAP. "There are nearly 10 seats that Congress has a good chance of winning. However, it will depend on how the minorities voters cast their votes," they said.

The final voter turnout in the Delhi polls was 62.59 per cent, down from 67.47 per cent in 2015 assembly election, with exit polls predicting an easy win for AAP, which sought to retain power on development plank, against the BJP that ran an aggressive campaign centred around the issues of anti-CAA protests and nationalism.