Pradeep Gupta weeps on TV: Old video is viral as Haryana exit polls go off-mark

As the counting of votes in the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections took place on Tuesday, social media was flooded with reactions on how the exit polls, which predicted an easy win for the Congress in Haryana, appeared to be off-mark as the ruling BJP was well ahead of the Congress, according to the early trends.
One dominant theme among the flurry of posts on X (formerly Twitter) was Pradeep Gupta, chairman and managing director of polling agency Axis My India.
Gupta, known for his election predictions, became a fodder for sharp reactions from close observers of the election results.
“Exit polls have become a joke in India. Band kar do bhaai inko (please end them),” X user Siddharth said.
“Sucks to be Yashwant Deshmukh and Pradeep Gupta today. This is a disaster,” another user, Abhi, said.

Several exit polls last week predicted a clear majority for the Congress in Haryana.
The Axis My India exit polls forecasted a clear majority for the Congress, projecting 53-65 seats in the 90-member Haryana assembly. The agency predicted the BJP to secure 18-28 seats, while the INLD-BSP alliance was predicted to win 1-5 seats. As for Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the polls anticipated no seats at all.
In June this year, Pradeep Gupta broke down on live TV as the results for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 trickled in, upending the exit poll predictions by his agency. According to India Today-Axis My India exit polls, NDA was predicted to win 361-401 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. The INDIA bloc was expected to win 131-166 seats, the exit poll said and gave 8 to 20 seats to other parties.

Gupta broke had to be consoled by the anchors of India Today.