NDA dismisses pre-poll survey, grand alliance welcomes it

The CNN-IBN poll conducted in all 243 constituencies of Bihar said the Grand Alliance would secure 41 per cent votes for the 137 seats.

Leaders of the BJP-led NDA on Thursday dismissed two pre-election surveys that said the grand alliance of the JD-U, the RJD and the Congress was set to win simple majority in the Bihar assembly polls. Eight seats may go to “others”, according to the India TV-C Voter survey.

Asked which party can solve these problems in a better manner, 44.7 per cent opted for NDA, while 38.6 pc favoured the RJD-JD(U)-Congress grand alliance.

The NDA’s main constituent, the BJP, was projected to win 82 seats.

But while Nitish may have been attacked for joining hands with Lalu for the polls, the CNN-IBN Axis survey reveals that 42 percent respondents actually thought it would benefit Nitish, while 39 percent said it wouldn’t.

As many as 45 percent of the respondents felt the Nitish government had performed as per expectations while 17 percent said it exceeded their expectations.

Respondents were also asked about the main issues in this crucial poll and 19 per cent of them said it is corruption. Also 27 percent chose slow growth of jobs as one of the other failures, 15 percent were of the opinion that he promoted casteism and 13 percent said that he ignored farmers.

Nitish Kumar’s development model got a thumbs-up from 52 percent of the respondents.

However, the IndiaTV-CVoter survey predicted 119 seats for the NDA, three short of the magic mark.

According to an India TV statement, the NDA is projected to get 43 per cent vote share, compared to 41 per cent share of the grand alliance.

In the 2010 assembly elections, the JD(U) and the BJP had won 206 seats by being in an alliance while Lalu Prasad’s RJD-led alliance with Ram Vilas Paswan could win only 25 seats.

C-Voter said, the projections are based on a methodology based on random stratified sample of 9,916 interviews covering all 243 segments in Bihar during the period from last week of September till the first week of October. In the 2014 Lok Sabha battle, the NDA won in 174 assembly segments. “However, the people of Bihar are not fools and can see his desperation for power”, said Giriraj Singh. While the NDA alliance’s thrust has been on consolidating upper-caste and Mahadalit votes, the Grand Alliance hopes to win a sizeable chunk of the Yadav-Muslim-Kurmi-Koeri communities.