Election strategist Prashant Kishor acknowledged on Friday that his predictions for the recent Lok Sabha elections were incorrect. "Yes, I and pollsters like me got it wrong. We are ready to eat the humble pie," Kishor, founder of Jan Suraj, stated in an interview with India Today.

Before the June 4 election results, Kishor had forecasted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could either match or surpass its 2019 seat tally of 303. Contrary to these projections and various exit polls predicting a sweeping victory for the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the actual results were quite different.

The BJP secured 240 seats, a significant drop from the previous election. As a result, the NDA, now holding 293 seats, must rely on support from regional parties like the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janata Dal (United) to maintain a majority in the lower house. Despite the lower tally, Modi is set to be sworn in for a third term as prime minister on June 9.

During his interview with India Today, Kishor declared that he would abstain from future election seat predictions. Known for his role in strategizing the BJP's victory in the 2014 general elections, Kishor admitted that his recent projections were substantially off the mark.

?I had put my assessment in front of you and I have to admit on camera that the assessment that I did was wrong in terms of numbers by a big 20 per cent. We were saying BJP would get somewhere close to 300 and they got 240,? he stated, while noting that he had acknowledged some dissatisfaction but not widespread discontent against Modi.

Kishor further explained that there was no strong positive momentum from the opposition, leading to a status quo with some geographic shifts towards the east and south. "Now, obviously, we have been proved wrong. But if you just go beyond the numbers, it's not that wrong. Because ultimately, they got 36 per cent vote share, which is the status quo. 0.7 per cent down in terms of vote share," he added.