NEW DELHI: After a string of misses, a stream of criticism and a breakdown on national television,
Pradeep Gupta
and his
Axis My India
saw their fates flipped by the Maharashtra and Jharkhand poll results – which turned out to be as predicted by the psephologist, whose streak of right calls began with the accurate forecast of the US presidential elections.
While Gupta had predicted between 98 and 107 seats for BJP and a comfortable majority of 178-200 seats for the Mahayuti in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly, he had quoted 49-59 seats for the JMM-headed coalition in Jharkhand. His success comes during a year in which Axis My India’s numbers for LS polls were far from the final outcome and its inaccurate Haryana poll prediction cast a shadow on the exit poll process. With the latest predictions, Gupta’s methodology, rooted in analysis and voter sentiment tracking, has regained credibility.