While exit polls sketch a dramatic map of India’s electoral mood, the line between projection and verdict remains perilously thin. With the ballots across five politically pivotal arenas of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry falling silent until the results are announced on May 4, poll surveyors have filled the vacuum with exit poll numbers that excite, alarm and often mislead. These projections have already begun shaping narratives well before D-Day on May

The shocking events in Malda, West Bengal, where seven judicial officers were held hostage for hours during a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise while being denied basic amenities, are the logical outcome of a political ecosystem nurtured under the state’s mercurial Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The officers, acting under court orders were gheraoed, deprived of food and water, and released only after a late-night rescue involving central forces. The Supreme Court of