Multiple exit polls that predicted the blooming of the lotus in Kerala have drawn sharp responses from the ruling Left Democratic Front and the Opposition United Democratic Front, both insisting that the BJP won’t win a single seat this election too.

All the exit polls gave the BJP one to four of the 20 seats in the southern state that has so far shunned the party and its ideology.

LDF convener and CPM leader E.P. Jayarajan said on Sunday: “There is a certain politics behind these (exit) polls. It’s meant to create confusion and anxiety among the people.”

T.M. Thomas Isaac, former state finance minister and the CPM Lok Sabha candidate from Pathanamthitta, said: “Three seats in Kerala for the BJP is impossible.”

CPM central committee member A.K. Balan recalled the 2004 exit polls that had predicted another term for the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “Exit polls gave such a prediction. But we all saw how the UPA-I government came to power after the polls. In the 2014 and 2019 polls, there was a Modi wave. But there was no such wave in this election,” Balan said.

Kerala public works minister P.A. Mohammed Riyas of the CPM said exit poll responses are usually gathered from certain locations only.

“Such polls usually come with certain prejudgements. Apart from that these polls are all from a media syndicate that promotes Narendra Modi. Naturally, those who are in power (at the Centre) will be happy to hear they would win one to three seats in a state like Kerala,” he said.

Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, too, rubbished the predictions that the BJP would open its account in Kerala. “We don’t believe in these exit polls. The BJP will not open its account in Kerala. It will be clear on June 4,” he said.

K. Muraleedharan, the Congress’s Thrissur candidate, said “there is no doubt the BJP will end up with zero seats in Kerala”.

Indian Union Muslim League general secretary P.M.A. Salam said they haven’t got any feedback showing a victory for the BJP in Kerala.