Poll strategist Prashant Kishore has admitted his predictions for India’s 2024 Lok Sabha elections were wrong and said he was “prepared to face humiliation” for inaccurate pre-poll assessments.
“Yes, I and pollsters like me were wrong. We are ready to be humble,” Prashant Kishore said in his first interview with India Today TV following the Lok Sabha election results.
Ahead of the announcement of the results of the Lok Sabha elections on June 4, Prashant Kishore, speaking on India Today TV, predicted that the BJP would repeat its 2019 election results. He will likely win around 300 seats. He harshly criticized his “critics,” “Remember to stay hydrated” and “Make sure you have plenty of water on hand for June 4th.”.
However, his prediction came true and the BJP managed to win 240 seats, 20% less than the number it had won in the general elections of 2019. The BJP won a majority thanks to its ally the NDA, taking the coalition’s total number of seats past the magic number of 272.
Asked if he would continue to predict the number of seats in upcoming elections in the country, Prashant Kishore said, “No, I will not comment on the number of seats in elections any more.”
Known for his keen insight into India’s political landscape, Kishor admitted that his predictions were way off in some key areas.
“I have given you all my assessment but I have to admit on camera that it was wrong by 20 per cent in terms of numbers. We had predicted that the BJP would get close to 300 votes but the actual figure was 240. But I had said earlier that there is some anger against Narendra Modi but no widespread discontent,” Prashant Kishore said.
“I also said that there was no positive voice from the opposition, so the status quo was created with geographical expansion in the East and South. Now, obviously, we have been proven wrong. But if you just look at the numbers, it is not so wrong because in the end, they got 36 percent of the votes and that is where it is. In terms of vote share, it is down 0.7 percent,” he explained.
Moreover, election experts acknowledged that making numerical projections was a mistake and vowed not to do so in future elections.
“As a strategist, I should not have stuck to numbers. I never did so before. It is only in the last two years that I have made mistakes. I did so once in Bengal and this time (Loss elections) is the second time. Everything I said was right, apart from the numbers especially,” he said.
