The second round of pre-poll survey conducted by ABP News-Lokniti CSDS, ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections scheduled to be held in December, has predicted that the BJP will win the mandate with 113-121 seats.
Congress will continue to hold fort as the principal opposition, with the party bagging 58-64 seats, the survey projected.
The survey also estimated that the saffron party will secure 47 percent votes. In its first round of survey, in August, the channel had predicted that the BJP will secure 59 percent votes. BJP’s loss in vote share, the channel said, would be the Congress party’s gain as the party is now expected to get 41 percent votes, reported ABPLive.
Similarly, the first round had projected that the ruling BJP will have a 30 percentage point lead over the Congress. This margin has reportedly shrunk now to a mere 6 percentage points.
Congress party is reportedly gaining in the Saurashtra-Kutchh and north Gujarat regions, with the party being “neck and neck” with the BJP, with each party predicted to get 42 percent votes.
The opinion poll suggests that the Congress will fetch 49 percent of votes and the BJP 44 percent in the north Gujarat region, which is considered a BJP stronghold.
The northern Gujarat belt and the Saurashtra region together comprises 107 seats, which tallies to more than half the number of seats in the 182-seat Gujarat Assembly.
In central Gujarat, the survey predicted that the Congress will secure 38 percent vote share, while the BJP is predicted to get 54 percent votes.
The pre-poll survey also projected that the BJP will retain south Gujarat, with the ruling party expected to secure 51percent votes, while the vote share of the Congress is predicted to be 33 percent.
Incumbent Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was the popular choice for the top post, but his popularity has declined as compared to the results of the first pre-poll survey conducted in August.
While 24 percent respondents considered him as the best choice in August, only 18 percent consider him for the post of chief minister in the recent survey. Congress’ Bharatsinh Solanki was reportedly the second favourite choice for chief ministership.
The survey also put to question the popularity of Patidar leader Hardik Patel among his own community members. While 64 percent of those surveyed conveyed that they ‘liked’ Patel, 30 percent answered that they did not like him.
Gujarat Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in two phases on 9 December and 14 December, the Election Commission had announced earlier in October.
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