Congress is winning Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, says survey

Good news has been predicted for the Congress party on the electoral battlefront in the coming elections in three big state assemblies of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The opinion poll by Ananda Bazaar Patrika television channel has predicted the Congress winning all the three assembly elections. If this translates into actual performance, it could be big bonanza time for the Congress and a big set back for the ruling BJP, just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2019

In what is the first opinion poll in the electoral season, television channel ABP News along with polling agency CVoter has predicted a complete and comprehensive victory for the Congress party in the coming elections in Rajasthan. The polls says out of the 200 seats in the Rajasthan assembly, Congress is slated to win 130 with a predicted vote share of 40% as opposed to its current tally of 25 seats.

The BJP’s predicted vote share is 39%—just one percentage point short of the Congress—but its seat tally is predicted to drop sharply from the existing 160 seats to just 57. Others including smaller parties and independents are slated to get 13 seats, up one from the last time’s 12 seats, with a vote share of 21%.

In Chattisgarh, Congress is predicted to get a comfortable majority in the state assembly, winning 54 seats in a house of 90 with a vote percentage of 40%. In 2013, Congress had notched up 39 seats, falling short by just 7. The BJP, which is in power with 49 seats, is predicted to come down to 33 seats with a vote percentage of 39%.

In Madhya Pradesh also the ABP News-CVoter survey predicts a wafer-thin majority for the Congress, predicting that in a house of 230, Congress will cross the half way mark of 115. It has shown Congress winning 117 seats with a vote percentage of 42%, though in 2013 Congress had only 57 seats.

BJP, which is trying for a straight fourth term in Madhya Pradesh, may narrowly miss the bus with the prediction that it will get 106 seats with a vote share of 40%. The BJP in 2013 had won 167 seats.

Others including smaller parties and independents are shown as winning 7 seats, with a vote share of 18%.

What is interesting is that the ABP channel has been under tremendous pressure from the ruling BJP-led government at the Centre, with two senior journalists working at the channel having been shown the door, with sources claiming that the pressure came from BJP big-wigs for carrying anti-Narendra Modi stories.

In such a scenario, it is indeed courageous, said a senior Congress leader, to put out such an opinion poll showing the BJP is losing support in three important states of the North Indian Hindi belt, where the BJP had scored big in the last Lok Sabha elections in 2014 after winning all the three state assemblies in late 2013.

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Congress set to sweep Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh: ABP Survey