‘Shouldn’t Have Gotten Into Numbers’: Prashant Kishor Admits His Lok Sabha Elections Assessment Was Wrong

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor broke his silence for the first time after the BJP fell short of the majority mark.

In the Lok Sabha elections and admitted that his pre-poll prediction was wrong, adding that he would not get into the number of seats any more. Kishor, who was involved in poll campaigns of BJP in 2014, YSRCP in 2019 and Trinamool Congress in 2021, said he got the prediction wrong for Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal, three states which brought down the BJP’s numbers from its 2019 tally.

“Yes, I and pollsters like me got it wrong. We are ready to eat the humble pie,” Prashant Kishor said in an interview with India Today TV after the Lok Sabha election results.

Prashant Kishor had predicted that the BJP will win around 300 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP ended up winning 240 out of 543 seats, falling short of the majority by 32 seats.

Upon being asked whether he would continue predicting election results in future, the pollster said, “No, I would not get into the number of seats in elections any more”.

“I had put my assessment in front of you and I have to admit on camera that the assessment that I did was wrong in terms of numbers by a big 20 per cent. We were saying BJP would get somewhere close to 300 and they got 240. But I had earlier said that there was a little anger, but no widespread discontent against Narendra Modi,” Prashat Kishor added.

“I had also said that there was no positive clamour from the opposition and that is why a status quo is being created with some geographical expansion in the east and south. Now, obviously, we have been proved wrong. But if you just go beyond the numbers, it’s not that wrong. Because ultimately, they got 36 per cent vote share, which is the status quo. 0.7 per cent down in terms of vote share,” he further explained.