The latest poll survey in Delhi shows that the Bharatiya Janata Party has steadily whittled down the ruling Aam Aadmi Party’s formidable lead – from 53.2 on January 6 to 45.1% yesterday.
With barely a week left for assembly elections, and the AAP enjoying only an 8% lead over the BJP, the national capital is bracing for a tough fight.
With every passing week, the BJP appears to be getting back into the good books of more and more Delhi voters. According to the IANS-CVoter Delhi Tracker, the BJP’s voter approval ratings yesterday touched 37% – a gain of 5.8% since January 27. In contrast, the AAP’s share of voter approval slipped to 45.1% yesterday – a drop of 5.5% since January 27.
The findings are based on responses to the question, “Whom will you vote for if assembly elections are held today?”
Incidentally, the Congress, relegated to third position, has been steadily losing out in the vote share. From 5.3% voter approval on January 27, its share fell to 3.7% yesterday.
The latest findings yet again indicate the steady growth in the BJP’s voter approval over the last four weeks.
However, Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has impressed the people of the city with 71% happy with his performance, another survey claimed yesterday.
According to the findings of Neta App Survey, Kejriwal despite falling behind his deputy Manish Sisodia and two other party MLAs, has impressed the people with his performance in education and development.
The Neta App leader ratings for Delhi’s sitting MLAs said that Kejriwal, who represents the New Delhi constituency, has scored 3.5 out of 5.
The Neta App ratings of the AAP MLAs is based on the feedback of 650,000 respondents that has been carried out over the last two years.
Ratings on the Neta App reflected that the chief minister has been able to strike the right chord with the voters making 71% happy with his performance.
After coming to power in 2015, Kejriwal launched Mohalla clinics as part of the state government’s affordable health initiative. The initiative has helped in providing health facilities at people’s doorstep, making it more accessible.
The party also made a pledge to bring about far-reaching changes in the education sector. And that change is visible in the nearly 1,000 government schools as the classrooms are cleaner with colourful walls and comfortable benches. Many senior classes boast of projectors, smart boards and air-conditioned labs besides indoor and outdoor sports facilities.
Some schools have lifts and swimming pools – a luxury for even many private schools.
While the AAP has projected the turnaround in Delhi government schools as a major achievement, the opposition BJP has been critical of its performance and recently released videos showed some schools in a shabby condition.
Meanwhile, in a scathing attack on Kejriwal, BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said the Delhi chief minister was a terrorist.
“Kejriwal is making an innocent face and asking if he is a terrorist, you are a terrorist, there is plenty of proof for it. You yourself said you are an anarchist, there is not much of a difference between an anarchist and a terrorist,” said the federal environment minister.
Earlier BJP MP Parvesh Verma had made “terrorist” remark targeted at Kejriwal against which AAP party held a silent march in all 70 constituencies in Delhi.
In response, AAP leader Sanjay Singh challenged the saffron party to put the Kejriwal behind the bars if he was “anti-national”.
The Rajya Sabha MP said every other day, “a new BJP leader comes out and calls Kejriwal terrorist”.
“As the elections are approaching and the AAP is heading towards victory, the BJP leaders are making objectionable remarks,” Singh said.
He said a BJP MP called Kejriwal a “terrorist’’, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar called his Delhi counterpart “monkey”, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the AAP chief has “connection” with Pakistan.