No Signal? Axis My India skips Bengal exit poll as voters refuse to speak
Axis My India Director and MD Pradeep Gupta said the anomalies were so widespread that the agency remained with a response rate of only 20-30%, well below the threshold of what it considers reliable for predictions. “We do not believe it is accurate to estimate any number unless our sample is representative,” Gupta said.
Explaining the reason for not releasing the West Bengal exit poll results, Gupta said the firm’s face-to-face interaction-based methodology faced an unusual wall of silence among voters in the state. “About 60-70 percent of the people had their lips sealed. They were not even ready to say yes or no,” Gupta said. NDTVexplains the difficulties encountered after the first phase of voting.
Also Read: Is Bengal on the brink? Exit polls show BJP to emerge ahead in tight race with TMC in Assembly elections
Exit polls, which typically provide early signals of election results, rely heavily on voter turnout in post-vote surveys, making such inactivity a critical limitation.
Multiple exit polls released on Wednesday pointed to a close contest between the two main rivals in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, with predictions split. While agencies like Chanakya Strategies and Matrize gave a marginal advantage to the BJP, Janmat Polls and People’s Pulse showed stronger support for the TMC. Meanwhile, Poll Diary suggested a competitive race giving the BJP a slight edge.
The final result will be known when the votes are counted on May 4.
