Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Devparna Acharya
Of the 182 seats in the legislative Assembly, 89 will go to polls in the first phase and 93 in the second. Image Source: IANS
Respondents from almost all four major regions of the state – Kutch and Saurashtra, Central Gujarat, North Gujarat and South Gujarat have said that Urban Naxal is not an election issue for them
Majority of the Gujarat electorate feel that important issues like inflation, education and livelihood get side lined due to undue importance given to caste and communal issues. This was revealed by an exclusive C Voter poll conducted for ABP News to gauge popular perception and voting intent of adult citizens in Gujarat.
According to the opinion poll, at least 68% in Kutch and Saurashtra region feel that during elections, basic issues like inflation and education do not get enough importance while caste and communal issues seem to dominate. Interestingly, 56% of the respondents, who agreed that caste and communal issues dominate election discourse, voted for BJP in 2019, while 65.8% voted for the Congress in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Another chunk of respondents – 63.6% men and 59.6% women – said that inflation will be an important issue in the upcoming Assembly elections. At least, 73.5% of those who voted for Congress in 2019 agreed. When asked if Urban Naxal issue is an important poll issue, a thumping majority have said no. Respondents from almost all four major regions of the state – Kutch and Saurashtra (60.7%), Central Gujarat (61.2%), North Gujarat (63.0%) and South Gujarat (56.4%)– have said that Urban Naxal is not an election issue for them. Contrarily, respondents from the same regions have said that inflation is the real election issue this year - Kutch & Saurastra (64.2%), Central Gujarat (60.0%), North Gujarat (62.4%), South Gujarat 58.5%.
The findings of the opinion poll are hardly surprising since price rise and inflation is one of the biggest election issues for the political parties in fray this year. The Gujarat Assembly elections will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5, and the results will be declared on December 8, the Election Commission announced Thursday. Of the 182 seats in the legislative Assembly, 89 will go to polls in the first phase and 93 in the second. There are over 4.9 crore electors eligible to vote this year. There will be more than 51,000 polling stations set up, including more than 34,000 in rural areas.
