Poll survey puts Congress in third spot

NEW DELHI: The BJP will most probably win enough seats to form a government in Delhi, while the Congress would be reduced to third spot behind the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a post-poll survey done for a television channel predicted on Friday. The poll, done by CSDS for CNN-IBN , said the BJP would win between 32 and 42 seats, which means it is a fair bet it could get the 36 needed for a majority in the 70-member assembly.

AAP would finish second with between 13 and 21 seats, while the Congress would see its tally collapse to just 9-17 seats, the poll forecast. The dramatic collapse in the Congress’ tally would be because its vote tally is estimated to have dropped from over 40% last time to a mere 23% in the latest elections. The BJP too would see a decline in its share of votes, the poll predicted, but a much more modest drop from 36.3% in 2008 to 33% now. The real winner of the elections, if this exit poll proves right, would be AAP with a vote tally of 27% on debut putting it well ahead of the Congress.

Another major gain for AAP, the poll finds, is that its leader Arvind Kejriwal remained the top pick for chief minister, with 27% choosing him, 22% picking BJP’s Harsh Vardhan and 15% opting for incumbent Sheila Dikshit. Little wonder then that the poll also suggests that Dikshit could end up losing her own New Delhi seat with 38% in that constituency backing Kejriwal for CM against just 13% for Sheila Dikshit.