A majority of exit poll surveys had hinted at change of guard in Andhra Pradesh, whereas a lone survey from former MP and ‘man of surveys’ Lagadapati Rajagopal predicted the opposite. While majority of the agencies predicted a landslide victory for the YSR Congress Party, the Andhra Octopus predicted a clear majority to the TDP in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
Lagadapati Rajagopal who earlier failed to forecast the winner of Telangana Assembly elections has proved to be a grand flop yet again in his survey AP elections. The results of the AP Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, which were out yesterday, clearly indicated this. The survey outcome did not reflect the reality, or even near reality.
Lagadapati who quit politics over formation of Telangana State has today announced to stop doing surveys. Admitting his failure to make the right predictions in both the Assembly elections in Telangana and General elections in Andhra Pradesh, the former Congress MP said that he would henceforth abstain from conducting exit polls. Lagadapati has been conducted polling surveys since 2004.
"I have failed to know the pulse of the people in December 2018 Assembly elections in Telangana and 2019 General elections in Andhra Pradesh, for which I express regret. For whatever reasons, since I failed to know the pulse of the people, I would henceforth abstain from conducting exit polls in the future."
He further added, "If someone is hurt by my surveys, please forgive me. I congratulate YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for becoming the Chief Minister and Chandrababu Naidu for taking the role of Leader of Opposition."