The Hindu : National : UPA can get majority on its own: opinion poll

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 24, 2007
ePaper


<SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?"> </SCRIPT> <NOSCRIPT> <A HREF="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?"> <IMG SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?" BORDER=0 WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60 ALT="Click Here"></A> </NOSCRIPT>

National

National

UPA can get majority on its own: opinion poll

If Lok Sabha polls are held immediately

New Delhi: An opinion poll has projected that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance can secure a majority on its own if Lok Sabha elections are held immediately.

The poll, conducted by CNN-IBN-CSDS-Hindustan Times, said Congress president Sonia Gandhi got the highest rating in popular choice as Prime Minister ahead of second-placed Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.

The ``State of the Nation'' survey says that if Lok Sabha elections were held in the second week of January this year, the UPA coalition would have perhaps ``shed its dependence'' on coalition partners and secured a clear majority with around 300 seats.

The poll says the Congress is ahead in the race for power in ruling Punjab and Uttarakhand where Assembly polls are scheduled next month.

The poll conducted in 21 States with a 15,000-strong representative sample, however, made it clear that as regards its projection about the two States it must be understood that the poll was conducted on a national level and was not specific to the two States.

It also carries bad news for the Congress and the UPA by suggesting that anti-incumbency has begun in party-ruled Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi.

At the national level, the survey said the opposition space was widening with National Democratic Alliance expected to get 115 seats, down from the 189 it won in 2004, according to a CNN-IBN press release.

The good news for the NDA is that the Governments led by BJP partners are doing well. The BJD's Naveen Patnaik in Orissa and the JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar in Bihar occupy the first and the second spots in the popularity rating of all Chief Ministers.

It says Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy picked up after a disastrous start.

In the "popular choice for PM," Sonia Gandhi ranked on top with 28.3 per cent votes, followed by Vajpayee (18.5 per cent) and Manmohan Singh (12.1 per cent).

BSP supremo Mayawati has come a poor fourth with three per cent, followed by Rahul Gandhi and Mulayam Singh Yadav with 2.3 per cent each and a mere 1.8 per cent for L.K. Advani.

In the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the survey projected that the SP and the BSP were locked in a neck-and-neck battle with 25 per cent votes each followed by 16 per cent for the BJP and 12 per cent for the Congress.

The survey claims the Congress would get 40 per cent of the votes in Punjab closely followed by the Akali Dal-BJP combine with 36 per cent.

In Uttarakhand, the Congress vote tally is projected at 34 per cent as against 26 per cent for the BJP.

In the new rankings of the Chief Ministers, Kerala's V.S. Achuthanandan bagged the third spot and Tamil Nadu's M. Karunanidhi the fourth. Delhi's Sheila Dikshit's ratings slipped to 18 while Madhu Koda of Jharkhand was the last with 19. — PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National

News Update

Stories in this Section