Lok Sabha polls: PM-Modi led NDA to win most votes in UP, shows survey

PM Modi is banking on strong economic progress and Hindu nationalist policies to return to power for a record third term

By Niluksi Koswanage

An alliance led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party is expected to get the majority votes in the country’s most populous state, according to an opinion survey published some two weeks before national elections. 

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is expected to get 52 per cent of votes, similar to their showing in 2019, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, according to findings from ABP News-CVoter opinion poll late Tuesday. An opposition coalition is likely to see its share of the vote at 36 per cent, with another regional party predicted to score 7 per cent of the share. 

Uttar Pradesh is politically important because the state alone sends 80 lawmakers to the 543-member lower house of parliament. Modi is predicting his party and allies will win more than 400 seats in the legislature.

In the 2019 elections, the BJP and its allies took 51.2 per cent of the votes in Uttar Pradesh. This time, Modi is banking on strong economic progress and Hindu nationalist policies, including the opening of a temple where a centuries-old mosque once stood, to return to power for a record third term. 

Here are some of the other findings from the survey:

- 42 per cent of the poll respondents were highly satisfied with Modi’s government while 29 per cent reported being less satisfied and 27 per cent were dissatisfied
 

- 62 per cent want to see Modi as prime minister, and 24 per cent want Rahul Gandhi of the opposition Congress to get the top post
 

- On the performance of the BJP-controlled state government in Uttar Pradesh, 51 per cent reported being very satisfied while 25 per cent were less satisfied. Another 23 per cent were dissatisfied
 

- The survey covered 2,258 people. It has a margin of error of 3 per cent-5 per cent in either direction