Delhi BJP's internal survey says Goel is favourite as CM

As fissures in the party came out in the open over the issue of chief ministerial candidate, the Delhi BJP today released an internal survey claiming its chief Vijay Goel has topped the list of suitable candidates along with Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
As per the survey, both Dikshit and Goel have received support 20 per cent people each followed by Arvind Kejriwal (12 per cent), Vijender Gupta (9 per cent) and J P Agarwal (7 per cent).
It said 6 per cent of the respondents wanted senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra to become Chief Minister while 4 per cent voted for his party colleague Harsh Vardhan.

Views of 71,230 people were taken for the survey and it was conducted this month.
The result of the survey has been released amid rumblings in BJP following Goels's assertion that he was a popular choice as party's chief ministerial candidate amidst reports that Harshvardhan was a front runner for the post.
However, a number of Delhi BJP leaders opposed to Goel questioned the authenticity of the survey and indicated that he does not have any chance of becoming the candidate for the top post.

As per the survey result, BJP will win 39 seats in the 70-member assembly while Congress' tally will go down to 17 from current 43. It projected two seats each for BSP and AAP.

It said 31 per cent of the respondents said they were satisfied with the performance of Dikshit while 48.5 per cent said they were not happy with her performance.
As per the survey, BJP has been projected to get 37.5 per cent vote share while Congress will get 34.5 per cent followed by BSP (6 per cent) and AAP (6 per cent).
Meanwhile, sources in BJP said a number of senior leaders have convyed to the party's central leadership that Goel has encouraged factionalism and is openly projecting himself as the chief ministerial candidate when the Parliamentary Board is set to consider the issue.

Goel, who was appointed Delhi BJP President in February, is believed to have conveyed his reservation to senior leaders about making Harshvardhan the chief ministerial candidate.
The party's Delhi election in-charge Nitin Gadkari and General Secretary (Organisation) Ram Lal held discussions with them as well as with some Delhi BJP leaders where the issue is understood to have figured.