Himachal Election: It's Advantage BJP But Congress Can't Be Ruled Out, Finds ABP-CVoter Survey

While more than 50 per cent of the respondents had said BJP would return to power in October, the number has dropped to 46 per cent in the latest survey. 

With just three days to go for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election, a survey conducted by ABP-CVoter in November has found that a close contest was on the cards between BJP and Congress. The Aam Aadmi Party is expected to come a distant third, as per the survey. 

While more than 50 per cent of the respondents had said BJP would return to power in October, the number has dropped to 46 per cent in the latest survey. 

Congress is now being favoured by 43 per cent of those surveyed to win the November 12 polls. Interestingly, only 35.5 per cent had predicted a Congress win in the October survey conducted by ABP-CVoter.

Notably, the hill state has not repeated any government since its formation in 1971. The only exception being 1985 when Congress's Virbhadra Singh opted for mid-term polls, about two years ahead of the schedule, to encash the pro-Congress wave after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984.

It remains to be seen if BJP changes the trend like it did in Uttarakhand earlier this year. 

According to the survey, the percentage of voters angry with the Jai Ram Thakur-led BJP government has also increased to 48 per cent in November from 45 per cent in October.

However,  Jai Ram Thakur still remains the most preferred candidate of those surveyed to become the next chief minister, with 33.7 per cent backing him. 

Union Minister Anurag Thakur has been pipped by Congress's Pratibha Singh, widow of former Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh, as the second most preferred CM candidate in the November survey. While 20.3 per cent of the responders favoured Singh, Thakur had the backing of 19 per cent. 

The ABP-CVoter survey found that a majority, nearly 49 per cent of those surveyed, cited unemployment as the major issue in the upcoming polls. 

About 14 per cent felt electricity, water and roads needed attention while 7 per cent of the responders listed corruption in government works as the biggest issue. Inflation and plight of farmers in Himachal were the other issues flagged by the people.

In terms of the performance of the BJP government in Himachal, nearly 39 per cent have rated it "good". About 36 per cent of those surveyed have termed CM Jairam Thakur's performance as "good". 

Interestingly, an overwhelming 66 per cent of responders have given their approval to the performance of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India.

[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 and the sample size for the same is 20,784 across Himachal Pradesh. The same is also expected to have a margin of error of ±3 to ±5% and may not necessarily have factored in all criteria.]