The BJP could lose 4 seats in Chhattisgarh, from its tally of 50 seats in 2008, according to the C-voter pre-poll survey for Times Now. This means that the party will have 46 seats in the upcoming elections but can still form the government in Chhattisgarh.
The Congress has made progress by gaining 3 seats in the state’s tribal belt, raising the tally to 41 from 38 seats in 2008. The survey also said that the making of inroads by the Congress in south Chhattisgarh can prove crucial for the formation of the next state government.
However, the Chief Minister of the state, Raman Singh, is confident that the BJP will form the next government, and that this time there will not be any anti-incumbency factors against his government. “We will perform better than last year. We will have a clear-cut majority and form the government for the third time consecutively.”, Singh said.
The Chief Minister admitted that price rise has marginally affected the popularity of the government, that would not harm the integrity of his government, rather it would create an anti-incumbency against the Central government. He hasn’t, however, considered the state’s first Chief Minister and Congress leader Ajit Jogi as a likely contender even though the survey states that there has been a little swing in the direction of the Congress after its patch up with Jogi, on the intervention of party Vice President, Rahul Gandhi.
A survey carried out by Lokniti and CSDS for CNN–IBN and The Week recently showed that the BJP is expected to eliminate Congress from the state. The survey predicts that the BJP could up with 61 to 71 seats on declaration of the results, significantly higher than the 50 seats it won in 2008. It also predicted that the Congress will only win around 16 to 24 seats against the 38 seats it won in 2008, only a 7% vote share in the state.