Delhi polls: Voters prefer BJP but want Arvind Kejriwal in power, says ET-TNS poll

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party is poised to win the Delhi assembly polls comfortably, but the people of Delhi want Arvind Kejriwal as their chief minister. This political paradox is the most critical of several that have emerged in an opinion poll commissioned by ET to gauge the "mood of voters in Delhi state" and conducted by TNS India during the fortnight between November 21 and December 5 in 35 constituencies among 7,113 respondents.

While BJP is expected to retain the 46 per cent vote share it had in the parliamentary polls and win 43-47 of the 70 assembly seats, the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, which had ruled the state for 49 days, is expected to make a leap of 7 per cent to cross the 40 per cent vote-share mark and win 22-25 seats.

But when it comes to the choice of CM, the people of Delhi favour Kejriwal, according to the survey. He's way ahead of the rest with 42 per cent of respondents rooting for him. Harsh Vardhan, the MP from Chandni Chowk and a minister in the Union government, is the next closest contestant with 28 per cent of respondents saying he should be chief minister. To be sure, dates haven’t been announced yet for the elections but most politicians and analysts expect them to be scheduled sometime in February.

All the support BJP is drawing is still in the name of the prime minister: "BJP's performance is primarily pushed by the image of Narendra Modi,” said the TNS survey. In fact, BJP’s apparent leadership deficit in the citystate was accentuated by the response from the party's own supporters with 2 per cent of them saying they want Kejriwal as the CM. Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay and party member Jagdish Mukhi also don’t seem to be popular choices with a 2 per cent rating.