Survey spells trouble for BJP at municipality too

New Delhi: Results of the IANS-CVoter Delhi poll tracker have thrown up an interesting point which could rattle the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which now controls the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

A majority of the respondents who participated in the survey also indicated that given a chance, they would like to see an immediate change in the local municipality.

The survey conducted in the first week of January with a sample size of 13,076 people was primarily held to examine voter preferences for the Delhi Assembly if elections were to be held now. The questionnaire contained some supplementary questions which gave insights at the micro-level.

The 70-member Delhi Assembly will go to the polls on February 8, while the counting of votes will take place on February 11.

Among the questions posed to the respondents, the survey also checked for voters’ opinion at the micro or municipal level. The response to this question threw up results that would shock the BJP, which is aiming to wrest the Assembly from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The survey revealed that 47.6 per cent of the voters want to “immediately” change the local municipality led by the BJP, while 44.8 per cent replied in the negative and 7.6 per cent of respondents remained undecided.

The results of the pre-poll survey showed that voter preferences are uniformly consistent even at a deeper level.

When asked if they want to change the local BJP Mayor immediately, 35.9 per cent said yes, 43.9 per cent rejected any change and 20.2 per cent replied that they could not say.

Asked if they wanted to change their ward corporator immediately, 28.2 per cent said yes, 55 per cent replied with a no while 16.8 per cent said ‘cannot say’.

The pre-poll survey results are bound to give more reasons than one for the BJP to ponder upon. Voters’ unhappiness at the micro-level could negatively impact the BJP’s chances in the Assembly elections scheduled on February 8.

The IANS/C-Voter Delhi Poll Tracker has given AAP a clear victory in the assembly elections, results for which will be announced on February 11.

Published on: Jan 6, 2020 at 21:15 IST

IANS