Mizoram election results 2018: How accurate were Exit Polls this time?

New Delhi, Dec 12: ​The 2018 Mizoram assembly elections results have turned the tables for the incumbent Congress government and the Mizo National Front. The Mizo National Front (MNF) won a resounding victory by securing 26 constituencies while the incumbent Congress government won a paltry 5 seats.

In the North-eastern state of Mizoram, the Mizo National Front (MNF) won the race with a simple majority of 26 seats, leaving Congress and BJP far behind with 5 and 1 seat respectively.

But even before panellists and politicians had started their war of words, it was those with numbers who had their final say. Last week, polling companies had paired with news channels to put out their exit poll data on the five states. The most visible of these pairs were Republic TV-C-Voter, Republic TV-Jan Ki Baat, Times Now-CNX, ABP News-CSDS, India Today-Axis My India and India TV-CNX.

Most of the exit polls obediently lived up to their reputation of being inaccurate: Let us have a look at it:

Both Times Now-CNX and Republic-C Voter exit polls broadly predicted this, but they significantly underestimated the MNF's strength in the state. Whereas Times Now-CNX predicted 18 seats for MNF, Republic TV-CNX put a range of 16-20.

A total of 201 candidates in 40 Assembly seats went to polls on November 28, the key players being the Congress, the Mizo National Front (MNF), the Zoram People's Movement, and the Bharatiya Janata Party. While the incumbent Congress, the BJP and the MNF contested on all 40 seats, the ZPM battled it out on 35 seats.