In what would lift the morale of the Congress ahead of the elections to five states, being seen as a weather vane to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, an opinion poll by C-Voter has projected that the party would win polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. The opinion poll, however, did not give a clear majority to any party in Mizoram or Chhattisgarh.
In Rajasthan, which has the tradition of electing an alternative government in every election, the survey has predicted a thumping majority for the Congress with 145 seats, with Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje struggling against a strong anti-incumbency factor. The opinion poll gave BJP only 45 seats with 39.7 per cent vote share, against 47.9 per cent of the opposition Congress.
The survey has predicted that the Congress may return to power in Madhya Pradesh after a gap of 15 years on the back of 42.3 per cent vote share. The projections gave BJP 107 seats, down from 166, and a simple majority of 116 seats to the Congress.
Polls in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana will be held between November 12 and December 7. Counting of votes will be taken up together in all the five states on December 11.
The survey has also projected a clear majority of 64 seats to the Congress-TDP combine in Telangana. The Congress has decided to contest 94 seats in Telangana, sources in Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee said on Thursday. The TDP (Telangana) will contest on 14 seats, while the Telangana Jana Samiti has been offered eight seats and CPI three seats.
The opinion poll did not give a clear majority to any party in Mizoram, with the Mizo National Front projected to lead with 17 seats, followed by the Congress with 12 seats and Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) with nine seats.
Predicting a close contest in Chhattisgarh, C-Voter poll survey gave 41 seats to the Congress with a 42.2 per cent vote share, while BJP is projected to get a slightly lower 41.6 per cent vote share and 43 seats.
Saying that the survey results were “heartening and interesting”, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party was going to win in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and also in Telangana in a resounding manner. “We hope to cross the two-thirds mark in Rajasthan and hope to get close to 140 seats in Madhya Pradesh and over 50-mark in Chhattisgarh. The coalition of Congress will romp home confidently, trouncing the BJP stooge TRS in Telangana. Congress will also retain Mizoram,” he said.
BJP spokesperson Bizay Sonkar Shastri, however, rejected the opinion polls. He said the BJP was heading for a “big victory” in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, and that the campaign by “our magic man”, a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would give a further boost to the party’s prospects.
PTI
