The Hindu : NDA slips in opinion poll

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 16, 2003

National

National

NDA slips in opinion poll

New Delhi Aug. 15. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance has slipped in its popularity, an India Today-ORG MARG opinion poll has said, predicting only 242 to 252 seats for them in the event of a snap poll, short of a simple majority in the Lok Sabha, down from 304 in 1999.

The Congress and its allies were expected to gain 35 to 45 seats from the 140 bagged in the last general elections, as per the "Mood of the Nation Poll".

Paradoxically, the opinion poll shows that the rating of Atal Behari Vajpayee as best Prime Minister remained a dozen points above the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, though her popularity has risen six per cent compared to the rise of three per cent for him six months ago.

According to the poll, the public disenchantment with the NDA Government aggregated to a 0.43 per cent anti-incumbency swing across the country compared to its actual position in 1999, which has the potential to translate into a loss of at least 57 seats.

The opinion poll says that the disaggregated picture was more alarming for the ruling combine — relative swings of 3.5 per cent in the east, having 142 seats and 2.16 per cent in the north having the highest number of 151 seats.

The survey, which covered 17,500 respondents spread across 98 parliamentary constituencies, was carried out between July 28 and August 6.

Apart from stagnation in terms of votes, the BJP has begun losing ground in its erstwhile stronghold of Uttar Pradesh, despite a tie-up with Mayawati's BSP. It is also trailing in Orissa, Jharkhand, Delhi, Haryana, Assam and in Andhra Pradesh as NDA's regional allies are facing the brunt of public anger.

Forty-six per cent of those surveyed did not consider Ms. Gandhi's foreign origin a problem, while 38 per cent did. Ms. Gandhi's popularity stays below that of her party while Mr. Vajpayee's approval ratings were higher than that of BJP. The survey says that the gains of the BJP were largely in Gujarat and other western States, some of which are going to polls this November. It says with the emergence of a fiercely competitive bipolar divide across the country, losses for the NDA would end up as gains for the Congress and its allies.

PTI

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

National