New Delhi: As the poll in BJP's strong turf Gujarat inches closer, the ruling party as well as the Congress and the AAP in opposition are trying to woo voters in their pursuit of power.
In a survey with CVoter, ABP News sought to know what voters felt about different issues ranging from the Excise case on AAP leader Manish Sisodia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent temple visits and the Congress electing its new National President. 1,216 respondents participated in this survey.
ALSO READ | ABP CVoter Survey: BJP Has Upper Hand But Corruption Biggest Issue In Himachal Pradesh
The people were asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent temple visits such as Mahakal darshan in Ujjain as well as visits to Kedarnath-Badrinath dhams and Ayodhya will benefit the BJP in the upcoming election.
51.57% of Male voters said yes and 48.3% disagreed. As for women voters, 56.8% believed it would be helpful for the BJP while 43.2% did not think so.
Another prominent topic in the election was AAP and Congress's tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Among the male respondents, 54.8% felt that the move will backfire on Opposition parties, 45.2% said they disagreed. 58.8% of women who participated in the survey said that criticising Modi will hurt the parties while 41.2% said it will not impact them adversely.
The people who participated in the survey were asked about the CBI's interrogation of Manish Sisodia in the alleged Delhi Excise Policy Scam and which party stands to benefit from it.
42.9% of male respondents believed it will help the BJP, 32.9% said Aam Aadmi Party, 15.0% said Congress, and 8.5% thought it won't help any party.
As for women respondents, 41.5% felt it will help the BJP, 35.2% said Aam Aadmi Party, 13.3% said Congress, and 9.9% said that the CBI action on Sisodia won't help any party.
Notably, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal called Manish Sisodia the new-age 'Bhagat Singh' for the action he is facing in the excise case and most people appeared to disagree with the statement. 34.6% of Male respondents agreed with the AAP national convener, but 65.4% of them thought the statement was wrong. Even the majority of women respondents disagreed as 60.6% said they thought the remark was incorrect.
While the AAP is trying to make its presence felt, the opinion on the Congress party's presence appears divided as overall 20.7% of men and 14.3% of women felt the opposition party is preparing silently, 45.5% of men and 46.3% of women opined that the grand old party is not in the fight anymore. Meanwhile, 33.8% of men and 39.4% of women said that the Congress is still an important force in the polls.
Notably, the AAP has emerged as a better opposition against the ruling BJP as the CVoter survey numbers favoured it slightly above the Congress. 48.3% of male respondents favoured AAP above Congress (46.9%) as the Opposition. The number was higher with women respondents, 50.6% favoured AAP against the grand-old party (44.8%).
The Congress recently elected its new party president with MP Mallikarjun Kharge emerging as the successor to Sonia Gandhi. The voters in the CVoter poll said the party may perform better than before. 42% of men and nearly the same 41.9% of women opined that the grand old party will perform better with Kharge at the helm of affairs. Meanwhile, 31.2% of men and 24.1% of women said that the Congress may perform worse. 26.8% of men and 34% of women felt there won't be any impact.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi is another factor to be considered as he announced that his party will contest the polls in Gujarat. Interestingly, most voters appeared to believe that he won't have as much influence on Muslim voters. 69.7% of women respondents said he won't have an impact, 30.3% felt he will. 67.3% of male voters too opined he will not be able to influence the Muslim voters as much and 32.7% of them said he will.
The Election Commission is yet to announce the poll schedule for BJP-ruled Gujarat as speculations are rife that the election may take place in two phases.
[Disclaimer: The present opinion poll/ survey was conducted by CVoter. The methodology used is CATI interviews of adult (18+) respondents with random numbers drawn from standard RDD. The same is also expected to have a margin of error of ±3 to ±5% and may not necessarily have factored in all criteria.]