ABP-CSDS Survey: Tough Fight With Congress, But BJP Leads in MP

The survey shows the Congress’ performance better than 2013 MP Assembly elections, but the party still fails to lead

Madhya Pradesh goes for polling on 28 November, 2018.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Bharatiya Janata Party touches just enough number of seats to form majority in Madhya Pradesh, said ABP’s opinion poll, made in collaboration with Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), on Thursday, 8 November.

According to the poll, the BJP stands at 41 percent, one percent more than 40 percent vote share of the Congress, leaving Others with 19 percent..

The state with 230 seats goes for voting on Wednesday, 28 November, out of which the BJP stands at 116 seats, the Congress at 105 and Others round up at nine. By this calculation, the BJP faces a drop of 49 seats from the 2013 Assembly elections where it secured 165 seats.

Madhya Pradesh has three key contenders in the upcoming election, current Chief Minisrter Shivraj Singh Chauhan (BJP) from Budhni, the Congress’ Kamal Nath from Chhindwara and Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia from Guna.

BJP in Lead, But Witnesses Decline in Numbers

Although the BJP still stands first in the ABP-CSDS survey, a noticeable decline in its vote share and seat share is reflected in the survey numbers.

The Congress party’s poll performance, though better from the last Assembly elections where it was at 36.38 percent and was able to secure only 58 seats, it still failed to gather majority in the survey.

However, the BJP's vote share is expected to increase after Prime Minister Modi's campaign visit in the state which is supposed to take place after 15 November.

It will be the BJP’s fourth consecutive win in the state if the party manages to form a majority, but the party has been struggling with the issue of anti incumbency evident to the voters.