Hours after predictions projected the Bharatiya Janata Party to be ahead in the Delhi Assembly polls, the Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday said that exit polls have “historically” underestimated it, reported PTI.

The AAP has gained several times more in actual results than these projections, said Reena Gupta, the party’s national spokesperson, while rejecting the exit polls.

“You look at any exit poll – whether in 2013, 2015 or 2020 – the AAP was always shown getting a smaller number of seats,” PTI quoted Gupta as saying. “But it got a greater number of seats in the actual results.”

On the other hand, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that his party respected the projections of the exit polls, PTI reported. “I believe the people of Delhi made up their minds long ago that they wanted change,” he added.

Polling for the Assembly election in the national capital concluded earlier in the day. A provisional voter turnout of 57.7% was recorded till 5 pm. The votes will be counted on Saturday.

The Delhi Assembly has 70 members. A party or a coalition requires 36 seats to form the government.

After voting concluded, an aggregate of exit poll predictions compiled by NDTV showed that the BJP could win 43 seats and the AAP could secure 26.

Pollster Chanakya Strategies predicted that the former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led party may win 25 to 28 seats, and the BJP may emerge victorious in 39 to 44 places. Matrize predicted a closer contest, giving 32 to 37 seats for the AAP and 35 to 40 seats for the BJP.

Another pollster, Mind Brink, predicted 44 to 49 seats for the AAP and 21 to 25 wins for the BJP.

Pollsters were unanimous in predicting that the Congress would not make a significant headway, winning zero to three seats.

In response to the exit polls, Gupta claimed that the residents of Delhi had voted for the AAP in large numbers and said that the party was going to register a historic victory. Kejriwal would become the chief minister for a fourth time, she added.

The Aam Aadmi Party has been in power in the national capital since 2013, except for a year of president’s rule between 2014 and 2015.

After the exit polls were out, the BJP stated that it respected the projections, PTI reported. “I believe the people of Delhi made up their minds long ago that they wanted change,” said Sachdeva.

Claiming that Delhi wanted a corruption-free government, he said that the AAP was on its way out of power and that the Hindutva party was going to form its government in the national capital after a gap of over 25 years.

In the 2020 polls, the AAP won 62 seats with a 53.8% vote share. The remaining eight seats were won by the BJP, which secured 38.7% of the votes. With a 4.3% vote share, the Congress failed to win any seat.

The AAP and the Congress are contesting the polls separately even though they are members of the Opposition INDIA bloc at the national level. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the AAP-Congress alliance lost all seven parliamentary seats in Delhi to the BJP.