UPA to bag 32 to 35 seats in TN; Modi fares poorly: Survey

The UPA alliance comprising the DMK, the Congress and other parties is set to sweep the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu by bagging 32 to 35 seats, according to a survey by Pudhiya Thalaimurai. The survey predicted a vote share of nearly 41% for the combine led by the DMK and the Congress with the AIADMK-led alliance bagging some 14 percentage points fewer votes. The survey had a sample size of 5,000 and was confined to parliamentary polls.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed poorly among Tamil Nadu voters with more than 55% of those surveyed saying his government’s performance was bad. When it came to who they wanted to see as prime minister, Rahul Gandhi got 53% of the votes with Narendra Modi coming second at 22%. An overwhelming majority of voters wanted a change of government at the centre.

The chief concerns of the sampled respondents were jobs and farming with nearly 60% of the people choosing the two areas. In terms of popularity of state-level leaders, DMK president MK Stalin stood first at nearly 30% votes while Edappadi Palaniswami comes second and O Panneerselvam coming third. TTV Dhinakaran got some 4% of the votes.

The survey seemed to reinforce the idea that regional variations are significant in the performance of parties. While the DMK-Congress alliance was well ahead in areas like the south and the west where the BJP and the AIADMK are known to have a strong presence, in the north, excluding Chennai, the DMK-Congress alliance was ahead only by two-three percentage points. This could possibly be explained by the presence of the PMK which has a dedicated votebank.