Chennai: The debate over exit polls continued on Friday, too, with political leaders in the state dismissing the findings of pollsters.DMDK general secretary Premallatha Vijayakant said DMK front would secure a massive victory and “beloved brother” M K Stalin would continue as chief minister. She, however, deflected questions regarding exit polls, stating that she preferred to wait for the actual results on the counting day instead of responding to exit polls. She also chose not to respond a question on DMDK’s stand in the event of a hung assembly. “Let us all wait for exact results,” she said. PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss also dismissed the exit polls — many of which favoured DMK — alleging that they were orchestrated by the party in power. “We have worked closely with the people, and we know their pulse. Their anger against the govt was evident on polling day,” he said in a statement on Friday. “Do not be swayed by fabricated exit polls. Instead, focus entirely on the counting centres to thwart any attempts at malpractice by the DMK, which is desperate to retain power after five years of exploitation,” he appealed to the agents of the party and alliance partners.The remarks come a day after AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and TVK leaders rejected the exit poll findings which gave an edge to DMK. Meanwhile, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said exit polls have now become a “cottage industry”. “All these are speculations. Every party, alliance and candidate is confident of winning. We will see what happens on Monday,” he said, while appealing to the media to refrain from encouraging the practice of engaging pollsters and reporting their predictions.
