63 Percent Indians Favour BJP In Polls, Says U.S. Survey

WASHINGTON: More than three-fifths of Indian voters favor the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming general elections as against less than one-fifth for the ruling Congress, a major American survey said.

"With the Indian parliamentary elections just weeks away, the Indian public, by a margin of more than three-to-one, would prefer the Hindu-nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party to lead the next Indian government rather than the Indian National Congress, which heads the current left-of-centre governing coalition," Pew Research said.

While the survey in which BJP is preferred by 63 percent of the respondents against 19 percent for the ruling Congress does not project the number of seats the two parties would get in the polls, Pew said Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, is more popular than the putative Congress candidate Rahul Gandhi.

The Pew Research Centre survey was conducted between December 7, 2013 and January 12, 2014, and included face-to-face interviews with 2,464 randomly selected adults, in states and territories that are home to roughly 91 percent of the Indian population.

The margin of error is 3.8 percent.

According to the survey, just 29 percent of Indians are satisfied with the way things are going in India today; 70 percent are dissatisfied.

More than six-in-ten Indians (63 percent) prefer the BJP to lead the next Indian national government. Just two-in-ten (19 percent) pick the Congress. Other parties have the support of 12 percent of the public.

BJP backing is consistent across age groups.

Support is almost equal between rural (64 percent) and urban (60 percent) Indians.

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