An opinion poll ahead of the Uttarakhand Assembly elections have predicted an edge for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while the Congress appears to be recapturing lost ground, setting the stage for what could turn out to be a photo finish when the results are declared on March 10. This is the first opinion poll result since the election commission announced assembly election dates on January 8.
According to the ABP-C voter survey, the BJP has a slight edge over the Congress. While the ruling party is expected to win around 31-37 seats, the Congress is likely to bag 30-36 seats. The debutant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may get just one seat. When it comes to a popular face for the chief minister, surprisingly Congress leader and former CM Harish Rawat is at the first spot with 37 per cent votes while sitting CM Pushkar Singh Dhami is the choice of 29 per cent people. Only nine per cent of people chose AAP’s CM face Col Ajay Kothiyal.
On the other hand, the Times Now-VETO opinion poll gave a clear majority to the BJP by giving it 44-50 seats while the opposition Congress is expected to bag only 12-15 seats. The survey gave five to eight seats to the AAP and one seat to others. When it comes to the CM face, the Times Now opinion poll gave over 42 per cent votes to Dhami, around 24 per cent to Rawat and 14.5 per cent to Kothiyal. The BJP is expected to get a 43 per cent vote share while the Congress is likely to poll 30 per cent votes, AAP 16 per cent and others 10.5 per cent, as per the opinion poll.
In its tenure of five years, the BJP was forced to change three chief ministers in Uttarakhand. While Trivendra Singh Rawat was replaced by Tirath Singh Rawat, Dhami replaced Tirath to become the third BJP CM within five months in 2021.
In the 2017 assembly elections, the BJP had won 57 seats, Congress 11 and others were settled with two seats.
