India Today – October 08, 2018

replaced. Another 11 per cent rate the government’s per-

formance as ‘average’ while 16 per cent have no opinion at

all, indicating floating voters who could tip the scale.

Unemployment (47 per cent), agriculture (45 per

cent), lack of drinking water (42 per cent), problems as-

sociated with drainage and cleanliness (40 per cent) and

price rise (31 per cent) are the top issues among voters in

MP as they are in the other two states. Ironically, despite

recording the highest agricultural growth rate among all

the states, MP has faced farmer agitation since June 2017.

In Rajasthan, despite tall Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

claims, problems associated with drainage and cleanli-

ness have 57 per cent of the voters concerned. Unless

Raje cleans up her act, the PSE survey predicts a serious

problem on her hands. The survey also shows that issues

like agriculture (47 per cent), unemployment (43 per cent)

and price rise (42 per cent) concern the voter more than

identity or Mandir or anti-nationalism. Ditto in Chhat-

tisgarh. Drainage and cleanliness is the top issue here (52

per cent), along with unemployment (41 per cent), agricul-

ture (40 per cent) and price rise (38 per cent).

Is the picture in the heartland likely to change as

elections draw closer? “Yes, of course, we have won most

elections because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s

charisma and popularity among voters and the intensive

campaign in the last 15 days led by party president Amit

Shah,” says Union railways minister Piyush Goyal. “And

we’ll have hundreds of rallies before that which will turn

the campaign in our favour.” The Karyakarta Maha-

kumbh organised in Bhopal on September 25 with Modi

and Shah as well as CM Chouhan addressing lakhs of

workers ocially launched the BJP campaign in MP.

Campaigns by the central leadership do sway as-

sembly elections. And with its blitzkrieg-style campaign

coupled with its formidable election machine and army

of booth-level managers, the BJP has often turned the

tide in assembly polls in the past four years. However,

factionalism at the state level is often a result of too much

interference by the high command, both for the BJP and

the Congress. It is this factionalism that’s weakening the

BJP in Rajasthan and the Congress in MP. Who will be

successful in December 2018 will depend as much on

campaigns and the ability to stitch successful pre-poll

alliances as on the respective parties’ abilities to quell the

enemy within. ■

MADHYA PRADESH RAJASTHAN CHHATTISGARH

* Answered only by farmers and farm labourers. Note: Since respondents have cited

several issues, each issue needs to be considered on a scale of 100%

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR ISSUES IN THE STATE?

45 %

40 % 42 %

31 %

17 %

Drinking

water

Health /

Hospital

Drainage /

Cleanliness

Unemployment

Agricultural
problems *
Price rise

47

%

47 %

42 %^43 %

35 %

24 %

Drinking

water

Condition

of roads

Drainage /

Cleanliness

Unemployment

Agricultural

problems *

Price

rise

53

%

Drinking

Water

Condition

of roads

41 %

38 %^40 %

27 %

18 %

Unemployment

Agricultural

problems *

Price

rise

52

%

Drainage /

Cleanliness

Graphics by ASIT ROY

The Political Stock Exchange survey was conducted by

Pradeep Gupta of Axis telephonically in each parlia-

mentary constituency in the three states. The random

sampling was done across demography and geography

to ensure representativeness at all levels vis-a-vis

gender, age groups, rural/ urban and other criteria. The

sample size was 12,035 for MP; 9,850 for Rajasthan; and

4,598 for Chhattisgarh.

Methodology

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