In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won a landslide 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won a landslide 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP is expected to win 170-183 seats in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, to be held next year, according to the India Today-Axis Opinion Poll. While Mayawati’s BSP is likely to bag 115-124 seats, the incumbent Samajwadi Party is expected to win 94-103 seats in polls for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly. The survey says that the Congress, which announced Sheila Dikshit as its chief ministerial candidate in UP, will barely make it to double digits. However, if the opinion poll turns out to be true, UP will surely have a hung assembly.

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Mayawati most favoured CM

While 31 per cent of respondents wanted Mayawati as their Chief Minister, 27 per cent were satisfied with incumbent Akhilesh Yadav. Surprisingly, just one percent wanted to see Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh as the chief minister. The survey brought huge disappointment for Congress, which has not ruled Uttar Pradesh for 27 years, as only two percent voted for Priyanka Gandhi and one percent for Sheila Dikshit.

Senior BJP leader and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who has also been a former Chief Minister of the state, was the choice of 18 percent respondents while his party colleague Yogi Adityanath got support of 14 percent participants.

Rahul can still revive Congress

BJP’s Congress-fee campaign did not find much support in the state as 54 per cent said they do not agree with the idea of a Congress-Mukt India. Twenty nine per cent of the respondents backed the BJP while 17 per cent were not sure. Perhaps, it seems, Rahul Gandhi’s Kisan Yatra that concluded last week have struck a chord with voters in Uttar Pradesh as 38 per cent of those surveyed said the 46-year-old is the Congress’s best bet to revive the party in the state.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won a landslide 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress was reduced to two seats with Sonia Gandhi and her vice-president son Rahul Gandhi retaining their respective constituencies.

Development not Ram temple

A massive 88 per cent believe development will be the main issue in the upcoming elections. The contentious issues of Ram temple in Ayodhya or cow protection garnered three and one per cent approval respectively. Nine per cent of the respondents said the performance of the Modi government is the biggest BJP issue for them.

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