Pre-poll survey suggest Narendra Modi’s hattrick in Gujarat Polls

New Delhi: If pre-poll surveys conducted by various agencies are to be believed, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma is set to fetch a bigger victory this time. The pre-poll surveys reveal that Modi is going to clinch a hat-trick with winning nearly two-third majority in 182-member state assembly.
A joint opinion poll survey conducted by ABP News-Nielsen shows that BJP is going to win 124 seats, seven more than the 117 which the ruling party had won in 2007. Congress is likely to bag 51 seats. In 2007 polls, Congress was confined to just 59 seats. Former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel’s Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) is likely to get only three seats. The survey also makes it clear that around 53 percent voters want to see Modi as Prime Minister.
Despite Patel’s influence in Saurashtra-Kutch region, BJP is likely to win 39 out of the 54 seats. Congress is expected to bag only 11 seats. Keshubhai’s GPP is likely to grab only three seats in the region.
There are indications that BJP will gain two seats while the Congress will lose its four seats in this region. This suggests that the BJP can occupy 50 percent of the seats in the region.
Out of the 53 seats, BJP is likely to register thumping victory on 39 seats while the Congress is likely to get only 14 seats.
It is projected that the Congress will win only 8 seats from this region whereas the BJP may bag 26 out of the 35 seats. In 2002 and 2007 elections, the opposition Congress had given a tough fight to the BJP in the region.
Other surveys predicted that the GPP is expected to cut into the votes of the Congress and not of the BJP.
An emphatic win in Gujarat polls is likely to pave ways for Modi to lead his party, BJP, in the next general elections slated for 2014.
A record 68 percent voter turnout was registered in the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections on Thursday. The second phase will be held on December 17 while the counting of votes will be taken up on December 20.