New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) The upcoming Assembly polls in Puducherry would be crucial for the ruling Congress-led DMK with indications of a tough battle with the NDA, which may get an edge in the polls with Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy losing the reign, as per the IANS C-Voter Battle for the States survey.
Despite repeated appeals by Narayanasamy to the people in the Union Territory to ensure that the Congress-led alliance is elected to power in the upcoming Assembly polls, the situation seems to be different this time from previous polls.
As per the survey, the Congress-DMK alliance, which won 17 of the 30 seats in the 2016 Assembly elections, is projected to get 14 seats this time.
NDA — an alliance of All India N.R. Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ADMK — is predicted to secure victory on 16 seats, gaining four seats as compared to the previous elections when it managed 12 seats.
The survey included 1,000 respondents covering all the Assembly constituencies in Puducherry.
The terms of the legislative Assembly of Puducherry will come to an end on June 8.
As per the survey, the AINRC, which had ruled the UT for five years, may better its position this time. The party won only eight seats in 2016, emerging as the second largest party in the Assembly.
Kamal Hassan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), which won one seat in the 2016 polls, may not get space in the Assembly this time.
The ruling Secular Democratic Alliance’s (SDA) projected seat arrangement is predicted to range between 12 and 16, the NDA between 14 and 18 and the MNM between zero and one.
However, the SDA is expected to witness a vote swing of 3.1 per cent with a projection of 42.6 per cent. Its vote share was 39.5 in the 2016 elections.
NDA’s vote share is expected to be 44.4 per cent with a swing of 13.9 per cent, compared to 30.5 per cent noted in the previous elections. MNM’s vote per cent is predicted at 2.3 per cent this time with a swing of 2.3 per cent. It was zero per cent in the previous elections.
–IANS
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