Gujarat election 2022: BJP to win another term, AAP to beat Cong, says survey

The countdown for the Gujarat Assembly polls began Friday after the Election Commission announced voting would take place in the first week of December.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – in power in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state since 1995 – faces a dual challenge – from the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress. The Congress is hoping for a turnaround in electoral fortunes after a string of defeats and the AAP is looking to build on its success in Punjab – it ousted the Congress to form the government after February polls.

Voting for the state’s 182 Assembly seats will take place in two phases – on December 1 and 5 – with votes to be counted on December 8, with results from the Himachal Pradesh election.

While these are still early days, opinion polls have begun to dominate headlines, with ABP’s C-Voter survey (unsurprisingly) giving the BJP yet another term.

ABP’s C-Voter opinion poll:

The BJP is expected to win again after the results of the pre-poll survey of 22,807 people were tabulated, with 56 per cent in favour of the ruling party. The AAP got about 20 per cent of the pre-poll votes and the Congress just 17 per cent.

On the face of it, this is good news for the BJP, but the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is widely seen as having definitely made an impression on Gujarati voters.

Meanwhile, in more bad news for the Congress, the survey also suggested the AAP may eat up some of the GOP’s votes. This is a trend seen in other state polls as well, leading to allegations from the Congress that Kejriwal’s outfit is the BJP’s ‘B-team’.

The Congress on Friday announced a first list of 43 candidates, fielding Rajya Sabha MP Amee Yagnik from Ghatlodia, which is currently held by chief minister Bhupendra Patel. The AAP has also released its candidate list for 118 seats. The BJP, though, has yet to do so.