In what could possibly be a prelude to the final results of people's choice in the recently held assembly polls in five crucial states, the exit polls of these five states were released in the evening hours of Thursday amid staunch expectations from the voters and the political parties across the country on who holds the edge to the winning streak and to rule their respective states for the next five years. 

Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, and semi-state Puducherry had gone to the assembly polls in March and April. While Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry had gone to the single-phase poll, Assam and West Bengal had faced three-phase and eight-phase polls respectively. The pre-poll surveys had predicted that Tamil Nadu and Puducherry largely had an anti-incumbency wave and these two states will see a change in the reign. 

Most of the pre-poll surveys had projected that DMK will win Tamil Nadu with a clear margin while the BJP alliance could form a new government in Puducherry. It also was predicted that Mamata Banerjee will retain the reign in West Bengal so are Sarbananda Sonowal in Assam and Pinarayi Vijayan in Kerala but these three leaders would see an erosion of power than what they had in the preceding assembly polls. 

The elections were over in these five states and the votes will be counted on May 2 during which the results would be announced. As the vote-counting is three days ahead, the exit polls on who holds the edge in these five states were released on Thursday, and the exit predictions have come with a minor change to the pre-poll surveys. Most of the exit polls had strongly predicted that there will be a change in the incumbency in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Let's take a look at the projections of the exit polls on who would win in Tamil Nadu,

Republic TV Exit Polls: 

The Republic TV has predicted that DMK will win between 160 to 170 seats. It was indeed a clear majority for DMK in the house of 234 seats with 118 as the majority mark. The exit polls had predicted that the ruling ADMK would end up securing between 58 to 68 seats while Dhinakaran's AMMK and its alliance would get 4 to 6 seats. 

Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam would secure 0 to 2 seats. The exit polls had predicted that Seeman's Naam Tamilar won't secure a single seat. On the front of the vote share, Republic's exit polls had shown the DMK-led alliance would get 48.91% of votes, the ADMK alliance would get 35.05% of votes, AMMK will secure 6.40% of votes while Makkal Needi Maiam would end up securing 3.62% of votes. 

Times Now P-Marq: 

The exit polls from P-Marq have predicted a huge win for the DMK alliance. It has signalled that the DMK alliance would win between 165-190 seats, which would be a historical victory for MK Stalin's leadership. The exit polls had predicted that the ADMK alliance would see a drastic decline by securing 40-65 seats while AMMK can win at least 1 to 3 seats. P-Marq had put 1 to 6 seats under the category of 'Others' which would cover Makkal Needhi Maiam and Naam Tamilar Katchi. 

C Voter: 

Another one to pour more hope to the DMK alliance as the C Voter exit polls had predicted that DMK will get between 160-172 seats while the ADMK alliance could win 58-70 seats. C Voter has predicted that AMMK would get 0 to 4 seats and it also had highlighted that Kamal's Makkal Needhi Maiam and Seeman's Naam Tamilar Katchi would secure zero seats. 

India Today: 

India Today's exit polls had given a clear edge to the DMK alliance by predicting that Stalin's coalition would win comfortably by securing between 175 to 195 seats and ADMK would end up securing 38 to 54 seats. AMMK can win at least 1 to 2 seats and Makkal Needhi Maiam could have its stake at the assembly by securing zero to two seats. On the front of vote share, DMK would earn 48% of the vote share and ADMK can get 36%, which is a 14% decline while compared to the last assembly elections. 

India Ahead: 

The exit polls from India Ahead showed that the DMK alliance would bag 165-190 seats and ADMK can manage to get 40-65 seats. Dhinakaran-led AMMK alliance can secure 1 to 3 seats while Kamal's Makkal Needhi Maiam can secure 1 to 3 seats. It also had echoed other exit polls that the DMK alliance would enter the assembly with a huge voter share and would form a new government. 

Today's Chanakya: 

Today's Chanakya has predicted that the DMK alliance would win 164-186 seats and ADMK would get 46 to 68 seats. Today's Chanakya's exit polls had shown that AMMK, Makkal Needhi Maiam, and Others like Naam Tamilar Katchi won't win a single seat in the elections.

All the exit polls had displayed that the DMK alliance would have a comfortable win while the ADMK regime would eventually face a drastic decline. The recently-held assembly poll in Tamil Nadu is the first legislative election for the state since the demise of political giants Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa which in a way had made the first election for Edappadi Palaniswami as the Chief Minister and for MK Stalin as the DMK President. 

In an unprecedented fashion, Tamil Nadu had witnessed five fronts for the race to the reign - ADMK alliance, DMK alliance, AMMK alliance, Makkal Needhi Maiam, and Naam Tamilar Katchi. The election was held on April 6 and over 70% of the voter turnout had indicated the prevalence of the strong anti-incumbency wave in the state. While the exit poll had displayed the DMK could be the people's choice in Tamil Nadu, it had utterly shocked the ADMK- BJP alliance as they would end up with a huge defeat.