AAP's internal survey predicts landslide win for the party

The party predics 51 seats for itself, 15 for the BJP and a paltry 4 seats for Congress and others

Beating all opinion poll estimates, an internal poll of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has predicted a clean sweep for the party in Delhi and put it way ahead of its main rival the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In its internal survey conducted on January 31-February 1, the party has predicted 51 seats for itself, 15 for the BJP and a paltry four seats for the Congress and others. Even in the “worst case scenario”, the AAP said it will bag 44 seats and the BJP will be far behind with 20 seats in the  70-member Assembly.

“In this election, most of the voters in Delhi have made up their mind already and even in the worst case scenario, our seats won’t get much affected,” said psephologist-turned-AAP leader Yogendra Yadav, while releasing results of the poll, which has surveyed 3,188 respondents across 35 constituencies.

Recent surveys released by various agencies have shown the AAP winning about 36 seats on an average in the Delhi polls and the BJP gaining 30 seats.

The AAP’s survey showed 53 per cent of respondents preferred its chief, Arvind Kejriwal, as the chief minister, while 34 per cent wanted BJP’s Kiran Bedi and seven per cent voiced for Congress’ Ajay Maken.

The party feels the recent controversy surrounding party’s donations won’t dent its prospects. “We found no evidence on ground which suggests it has affected us. In fact, our donations have gone up since then, the volunteers are angry with such accusations and the voters are keeping faith on us,” said Yadav.

Yadav said in the past two months, the party witnessed a “positive feedback” from the people when they were seen touching the majority mark in terms of seats. “In December, we started getting positive feedback and we started edging the BJP out…The reason is BJP’s local unit showed negativity and (BJP’s chief ministerial candidate) Kiran Bedi took the steam out the party’s campaign,” Yadav explained.

Yadav said in the best case scenario, the internal survey showed it could fetch a massive 57 seats in the Delhi elections scheduled to be held on Saturday.

The party feels it has picked up in the rural areas and gained substantial support from the upper class since the Lok Sabha elections in May 2014.