Janta ka Mood survey predicts hat-trick for KCR with 72-75 seats in Telangana

NEW DELHI: Yet another survey has predicted a comprehensive win for the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana in the ensuing Assembly polls. 'Janta ka Mood' (JKM) organisation, a reputed political research and consultancy, has predicted that the BRS is primed to win 72 to 75 seats in the State, followed by 31 to 36 seats to the Congress, 6 to 7 seats for the MIM and 4 to 6 seats to the BJP.

Releasing the survey details in New Delhi on Wednesday, the JKM group shared that while 41 per cent of people supported the BRS, the Congress is predicted to get a vote share of 34 per cent and the BJP and the MIM getting a share of 14 and 3 per cent respectively.

According to the survey, there would be a close contest in 18 seats with the BRS leading in 10 of those. In the remaining 8 seats, Congress and BJP are leading in 4 seats each. The report suggested that the Congress resurgence in Telangana was a direct impact of victory in Karnataka. However, despite its guarantees getting a good feedback, the report said the Congress was unable to implement such policies or guarantees in Karnataka, which could have an influence among the voters.

According to the survey, "None can match the popularity of K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), who is the most preferred Chief Minister among leaders in Telangana. The Congress is not able to exploit any anti-incumbency due to lack of proper candidature and confusion among cadres about the candidate at the constituency level and leadership at the State level."

The report also pointed out that the Congress in Telangana, like elsewhere in the country, was bogged down by internal rivalry in the local leadership at the State level and there was growing dissent amongst local leaders and the cadre. Moreover, it did not have a strong face matching that of K Chandrashekar Rao. Telangana politics, as per the survey, was dominated by KCR, who enjoyed the highest approval ratings in the State. The impact of the Congress’ six guarantees was high in 30 constituencies and low in 42 constituencies, even as the BRS Manifesto fared well across the State.

The Congress, to pick up momentum, would have to solve its internal rivalries and arrive at a consensus on State building, according to the survey.

"Voter confidence in the Congress was low, it said, adding that winning perception did not translate to instilling confidence in voters to vote for Congress as the voters had highly benefited from popular schemes run by the BRS Government.

As for the BJP, the projected vote share was 14 per cent while having winning chances of 4 seats. "This says a lot on the perception of the BJP in the minds of voters wherein the party also suffers from groupism and internal rivalry between groups led by Bandi Sanjay and G Kishan Reddy," the survey said.

“Multiple factors have contributed to the popularity of BRS among the voters in Telangana. The most obvious one being the leadership of KCR, which remains unmatched in the State. No opposition party in the state has a face that can match the stature of a leader like KCR. Moreover, the highly popular schemes attending to voters such as farmers, youth, women, BCs, govt and private employees, workers or artisans, etc. have become a role model for even the Union Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to replicate. The impact of beneficiaries of the popular policies, will translate to the high rates of success for the BRS,” said the survey, which had a sample size of 1.20 lakh and was conducted from September 1 to October 20.

JKM has a track record of successful survey and ground research, opinion and exit polls and more with many landmark election cycles including the 2015 Delhi and Bihar elections, 2016 Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry elections and the 2017 Punjab elections.