Exit polls 'nautanki', truth will be out on May 23: Pawar

NCP chief Sharad Pawar Monday doubted the exit poll projections that the BJP-led NDA will retain power at the Centre, calling them a nautanki (farce), adding the "truth" will be out in two days when counting of votes for Lok Sabha polls is held on May 23.

The former Union minister was speaking at an iftaar event in south Mumbai in the evening.

"There is a strange atmosphere in the country today...After 6 pm yesterday, there was a sense of unease after seeing all TV channels and newspapers.

"People have been calling me...I told them that an attempt is being made by those who control the electronic media to present a different view (through the exit polls)... The truth will come out after two days (on May 23)," Pawar said.

The NCP chief said elections will come and go and someone is bound to win or lose.

"But I have never seen that after elections, those who shoulder the country's responsibility have left Delhi and gone to the Himalayas," Pawar said, taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Kedarnath visit.

"There is 'nautanki' in politics also," Pawar said.

Exit polls Sunday forecast another term for Modi, with some of them projecting that the NDA will get over 300 seats to comfortably cross the majority mark of 272 in the Lok Sabha.