Veteran poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Tuesday predicted that in case the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fails to secure its own target of 370 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the stock market may turn red.
During an interview with NDTV, Kishor said that BJP’s failure to secure its own target of 370 seats may reflect investors’ disappointment in the stock markets.
He drew an analogy with the corporate world and said that if a company fails to achieve its stated goals, the stock market is likely to punish it even if the performance is not too bad.
“Similarly, if BJP wins less than 370 seats in the election, it might become a talking point and the markets may reflect the failure.”
In his interaction, the poll strategist called the BJP’s 370-seat target a smart move.
“In the last three-four months, the discussion has centered around ‘370’ and ‘400 paar’. Consider it a BJP strategy or the Opposition’s weakness, but the BJP has entirely shifted the goalpost from 272 to 370.”
“This has benefitted the BJP. Now, no one is saying Modi ji will lose, they are saying they may not get 370 seats,” he added.
Notably, earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had predicted a significant boost in the stock market following the election results on June 4.
He expressed confidence in the third time victory of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The Prime Minister expected a stock market rally within a week of the June 4 election results due to the positive impact of the government’s policies on investor confidence.
On Tuesday, the BSE data highlighted that the market capitalisation of companies listed on BSE has crossed a record $5 trillion for the first time, underscoring an ongoing rally in the Indian stock markets.
The total market cap of all BSE-listed companies reached USD 5 trillion or over Rs 414.46 trillion, rising by over USD 633 billion since the start of the year. Although the flagship Sensex index still remains 1.66 per cent below its all-time high, the BSE Mid and Smallcap indices hit a fresh high.