Panaji, Oct 7 (IANS): Pre-election related surveys are carried out in air-conditioned rooms with "pegs" in hand, BJP MLA and deputy Speaker of the state legislative Assembly Isidore Fernandes has said.

"And overall this is done sitting in an AC room with pegs. This is my statement for them. Otherwise I will challenge them.

"Any four of them come (should) sit for the election against me and get elected and see," Fernandes told reporters late on Wednesday, when asked to react to a pre-poll survey conducted by a local cable news channel, which suggested that he would find it tough to retain his Assembly constituency of Canacona, located around 70 km from Panaji.

Fernandes was elected to the state Assembly in 2017 on a Congress ticket, before he switched over to the BJP along with nine other Congress MLAs in 2019.

Fernandes said that such surveys are a "joke", especially when conducted when Assembly polls are still three to four months away.

"It is all a joke. There are still three-four months to go," Fernandes also said, while commenting on the survey's findings.