As results of the assembly polls showed Bharatiya Janata Party's clear mandate in Uttar Pradesh, pollsters emerged winners with on-target prediction of not only the saffron party's victory, but also an emphatic win for the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab.
The exit polls had, however, gone off track with the result in Uttarakhand, where 11 of them predicted a close fight with the BJP marginally ahead of the Congress.
The result on Thursday showed a big victory for the saffron party, with the Congress lagging far behind.
As many as eight exit polls -- ABP News-CVoter, ETG Research, India Today- Axis My India, India TV-CNX, Zee News-DESIGNBOXED, India News, News 24 Today's Chanakya and Republic P-MARQ -- predicted 240-plus seats for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, earmarking an average seat of the party with its allies in the state at 241 out of the total of 403 seats.
The exit polls also found Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party finishing second with 142 seats on an average.
India Today- Axis My India predicted 288 to 326 seats for the BJP, while News 24 Today's Chanakya gave the party 294 seats.
India TV -Ground Zero Research had given the party between 182 to 220 seats.
Currently, the BJP is leading in 253 seats and SP in 114 seats.
Another big victory for the exit polls came in Punjab, where the Aam Aadmi Party left all others behind in a landslide win, something that was predicted by most pollsters who said that the party would in fact bag the most number of seats in the state.
On an average, the exit polls gave 63 seats to AAP and 28 to the Congress. On Thursday, AAP is set to claim 92 seats, while the Congress 18 seats.
India Today-Axis My India's prediction of one to four seats for the BJP in Punjab and 76 to 90 seats for AAP emerged as the clear winner in the pollsters race in the state.
News 24 Today's Chanakya polls gave 100 seats to AAP and 10 seats to the Congress.
For Uttarakhand, most exit polls predicted a close contest between the BJP and Congress with 35 and 32 seats, respectively out of a total of 70 seats.
The mandate (till early evening) on Thursday showed 47 seats for the BJP and 19 for the Congress.
In Goa, the exit polls predicted a hung assembly with 16 seats each for the BJP and the Congress.
The results, however, have shown a clear win for the saffron party with 20 seats and Congress 11 seats.
In Manipur, where the poll results showed a big victory for the BJP with 29 seats, the exit polls predicted a 30-seat mandate for them.
All pollsters got the arithmetic right for the state.
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