Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav is enjoying an edge over his Bahujan Samaj Party counterpart Mayawati in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls slated to be held early next year, according to India Today-ORG opinion poll.
The poll,conducted between November 13 and November 23, shows that 31 per cent of respondents favour Mulayam as the “best chief minister” as compared to 29 per cent who favour Mayawati. BJP’s Rajnath Singh is the third favourite with 19 per cent while Rahul Gandhi trails with only 15 per cent.
The BSP’s 2007 vote share of 30.4 per cent is likely to shrink to 25 per cent while the SP’s vote share could remain almost unchanged at 25 per cent although it may get more seats in what is likely to be a hung House.
The projected vote share of parties in the ensuing elections is as follows: BSP 25, SP 25, BJP 18, Cong 16, RLD 3 and Others 13.
There is a marginal improvement in BJP’s vote percentage from 16.9 to 18. The corresponding figures for the Congress have also increased from 8.6 per cent in 2007 to 16 per cent, but the survey says the party is unlikely to improve its number of seats substantially from the present 22.
Muslims have come back to Mulayam with as many as 48 respondents siding with him, while BSP’s support among Muslims has come down to only 23 per cent. A majority of the respondents (66 per cent) say the BSP government has discriminated against non- Dalits while giving government jobs.
Congress failed to make much headway in UP despite Rahul’s efforts. As many as 61 per cent of the voters described Rahul’s frequent visits to Dalit homes in the state as merely a “political stunt”.
“Rahul Gandhi has made UP his personal project. But the state is unlikely to give the prince the fairy tale he seeks,” says the opinion poll which is to be published in the December 19 edition of India Today . The BJP is lagging behind because of its failure to project a chief ministerial candidate.
