People’s Pulse survey gives Cong an edge over BRS

Hyderabad: People are yearning for change in Telangana, South First-People’s Pulse survey has revealed. It projects an edge for Congress, the main Opposition with a seat tally of 57 to 62 seats with the ruling BRS getting 41 to 46 in its kitty. While it predicted 3 to 6 seats to BJP, it gave 6 to 7 seats to AIMIM and 1 to 2 seats to others.

Congress is in the lead in 57 to 62 seats, while BRS is seen leading in 41-46 seats, according to the survey. BJP is likely to get three to six seats, while AIMIM could get six to seven. Others will win one to two seats.

Of the State’s 33 districts, the Congress, in terms of vote share, is leading in 21, BRS in 11, and BJP in one. Congress vote share is expected to be at 42.5 per cent, while BRS is projected to get 37.6 per cent. The difference in the vote share between Congress and BRS is 4.9 percentage points. In 2018, BRS (then TRS) vote share was at 47.4 per cent and Congress was at 28.7 per cent. BRS has dropped nearly 10 percentage points of its vote since then, and Congress has collected that and mopped up another four percentage points.

BJP, which polled 7.1 per cent of the vote in 2018, will garner 13.2 per cent, the projections suggest. The South First–Peoples Pulse Pre-poll Survey was conducted immediately after the withdrawal of nominations.

On factors influencing voting preferences, a report on the survey stated that interestingly, there is a clear variance in gender behaviour. Women, particularly homemakers, are backing the BRS. Male voters are largely backing the Congress. The disillusionment among youth (age group of 20-35 years) is palpable, and they are overwhelmingly behind the Congress, given the perception that BRS has failed to fill up vacant government jobs right through its two tenures. Recruitment to government jobs was one of the major planks of the separate statehood movement. A large section of the educated-unemployed youth appear angry with the performance of BRS government in this area and they may influence other votes in their households.

According to the survey, the urban-rural variance is even more stark. In the urban areas, BRS is leading over Congress by 2.5 percentage points. In the rural areas, Congress is leading over BRS by over nine percentage points. Among the farmers, Congress is ahead of BRS by nearly seven per cent.