Lesson to be learnt from ABP News-Cvoter survey
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: November 15, 2021 -

HARD working leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their even more active workers in Manipur or elsewhere may be in a celebratory mood right now as the survey conducted by ABP News along with Cvoter to gauge the mood of people in five states, namely Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, where assembly elections are due in early part of 2022, has shown that BJP is still the favourite to win the upcoming polls.

However, a closer analysis of the survey carried out during the period from October 9, 2021 to November 11, 2021, indicates that the saffron party needs to put on hold the celebration for the time being so as to put everything in order for consolidating its position.

As per the survey report, the ruling BJP in Coa and Manipur is likely to retain power while it looks comfortable of reigning in Uttarakhand as it completes five years of governance despite witnessing a major overhaul with three different chief ministers taking charge in the past less than one year.

In Uttar Pradesh, the projection may be of retaining power by the BJP and its allies, but the vote share of BJP expected to come down from 41-4 percent in 2017 to 40.7 percent in 2022, howsoever marginal it may be, while toughest political rival Samajwadi Party and its allies are projected to get a vote share of 31.1 percent, up from 23.6 percent in 2017, should Be a cause of concern for the saffron party and its leaders.

After all, Uttar Pradesh is a crucialstate for all the parties involved, and even more so for the ruling BJP if it wants to shine in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well.

The position of BJP is also not so enviable in Punjab where it is facing the ire of the farmers, who have been agitating against the three farm laws that were forcefully passed by the Parliament for more than a year now.

The joint survey report of ABP News and CVoter has revealed that the saffron party is staring at its worst performance in recent decades in Punjab, as it is likely to win 0-1 seat, after garnering three seats in the last elections. The survey report also projected that the saffron party's vote share will see a decrease from 5.4 per cent in 2017 to 2.2 per cent in 2021.

In addition to the growing resentment of the farmers over the three farm laws, which have come to be described as "anti-farmer laws", the loss of alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Which has made it clear that it is open for pre-poll alliance with anybody but BJP, is going to put a brake on the effort of the saffron party to make en-route in the politics of Punjab, thus giving enough room for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to have a field day and emerge as the single-largest party in Punjab.

When all is said and done, one pertinent lesson that every political party, howsoever powerful they might be, could learn from the survey findings of ABP News and Cvoter is that even if politics is like a game of see-saw, one should never indulge in political gambling of making the Constitutional provisions a mockery for the public to cry hoarse.

After all, even as Constitution of India is regarded as the bedrock of Indian democracy, the ultimate sovereign power will always rests with the people while the political parties of every known colour and flag are just the medium for translating the 'will of the people' into action.