Delhi assembly polls: BJP survey predicts 48 seats for party

The Bharatiya Janata Party will continue its spectacular electoral performance by posting a clean sweep in the Delhi assembly elections, a survey by the party has predicted.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will continue its spectacular electoral performance by posting a clean sweep in the Delhi assembly elections, a survey by the party has predicted.

The survey gives 43-48 seats to the BJP in the 70-member house. The party had won 32 seats (with ally SAD) in the 2013 assembly elections.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will win 15-19 seats, down from 28 it had got in 2013 and the Congress may improve its tally of 8 by up to three seats, the survey found.

Party sources associated with the process, which was conducted to gauge the public mood when the Delhi assembly was in continued suspended animation, said that the encouraging “trends” played an important role in the party’s decision to choose polls over efforts to make a government.

Sources said the survey was conducted when the BJP was waiting for an invite from the Lieutenant Governor for government formation in the Capital.

The survey predicts that the BJP will win the New Delhi seat represented by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal.

Not only this, the party is hoping to wrest Greater Kailash -- one of the party bastions -- from AAP. It is also confident of winning the Trilokpuri seat, which recently witnessed communal clashes.

“As per our survey, if we change the candidates on a few seats, we will be able to win on our weak seats too. The survey has given us a base so that we can work on our strategy accordingly. Considering the survey was done recently it is more relevant and has taken into consideration the prevailing political scenario in Delhi,” said a senior BJP leader.

Party sources said the survey showed that the BJP would get more support from the young voters compared to 2013 elections. They said the youth had voted for AAP during the last polls but they are disillusioned with the way AAP government performed during their 49-day rule.

“There are certain factors which we ignored last time so we have decided to make a strategy which will focus on youth, women and the middle class. AAP did well as they encouraged even women to come out and vote,” said a senior BJP leader. “The survey has pointed out we will do well on the seats such as Ballimaran, Okhla that are currently held by Congress,” he said.