Only two per cent of Muslims will vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections with a major chunk of 68 per cent going to the ruling Congress party, an internal survey carried out by the BJP has revealed.
The survey conducted to check the “mood” after the much-talked about September 29 rally by the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the Capital acknowledged that the party does not enjoy much support among the Scheduled Castes and minorities in the city.
Yet, the survey with a sample size of 71,230 puts the BJP ahead in the race with a vote share of 37.5 per cent, giving itself a 3 per cent lead over the Congress (34.5 per cent). Both the BSP and the Aam Aadmi Party trail behind with 6 per cent votes each. The survey has also noted that infighting among the Delhi unit of the BJP and lack of coordination between the senior leaders may dent the party’s advantage.
The survey was conducted between September 30 and October 7 across all the 70 Assembly constituencies that were split into 350 sectors and sampled roughly 200 voters per sector.
The Modi factor seems to have worked in the party’s favour with the survey noting that in an earlier mood poll conducted in August 2013 that sampled 54 of the 70 Assembly constituencies in Delhi, the Congress was leading over the BJP by 0.8 per cent.
“Narendra Modi’s recent rally has resulted in an undercurrent in favour of the party. The public support for Modi has resulted in a rapid growth in BJP’s vote share. Clearly there is a wave against the Congress which has been ruling the Capital for the last 15 years,” stated the survey.
According to the survey, the BJP leads with 39 seats, Congress gets 17 seats with eight remaining contentious between the two major parties. The survey gives both the BSP and the AAP two seats each. Both Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit are equally preferred for the chief ministerial job with both clocking 20 per cent each in the survey. AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal is favoured by 12 per cent of those interviewed.
Interestingly, Krishna Nagar MLA Harsh Vardhan, who might be a potential CM candidate, is favoured only by 4 per cent of those surveyed.
The survey shows a close call between the BJP and the Congress to attract votes from Punjabis/Sikhs, Jats, Gujjars and Yadavs. While the BJP has an advantage among the Brahmin voters, the Congress is leading among Poorvanchali voters.
Power, inflation, corruption in government ranks, water and women’s safety were named as the top five priority areas among those surveyed.
Regarding the AAP, the survey has observed that voters cutting across all sections are impressed with the party but it would end up dividing the anti-Congress votes and hence have a limited capacity to win.
