India is a nation obsessed with opinion polls. Since the 1980s, the country has witnessed the rise of a thriving industry of pollsters who produce periodic ‘mood-of-the-nation’ surveys, with particular emphasis on election forecasts and exit polls. These polls are widely consumed across print and digital media platforms and have also given birth to self-styled amateur psephologists. This project seeks to study how and why opinion polls acquired their ubiquity and widespread legitimacy in modern India.