Jharkhand: Matrize opinion polls forecast landslide victory for BJP-led alliance

New Delhi, Nov 10 (IANS): Amid the heated electioneering for the upcoming Assembly elections in Jharkhand, an opinion poll conducted by a leading pollster has forecasted a thumping victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance in the tribal state and crushing defeat for INDIA Bloc alliance.

Matrize Opinion poll has predicted a landslide victory for the BJP-led NDA and sees it garnering anywhere between 45-50 seats. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led INDIA bloc is seen plummeting to 18-25 seats while Others including Independents are unlikely to have an impact in polls. In the 2019 Assembly elections, the JMM-led alliance won 47 seats while NDA got 25 seats.

In terms of vote share, the NDA is seen doubling the numbers of the INDIA Bloc. As per the Matrize survey, the BJP-led alliance is set to garner more than 53 per cent vote share while the JMM-Congress and RJD alliance is seen getting limited to 28 per cent vote share.

The electoral gain for BJP is not limited to any particular region but all across the state. According to the Matrize Opinion poll, BJP and allies are seen drawing good numbers in all five regions – Santhal Pargana, North Chhotanagpur, Kolhan, South Chotanagpur and Palamu.

In Kolhan, JMM seems to getting hurt badly due to Champai Soren, the Kolhan Tiger’s switchover to BJP in the eleventh hour. The survey predicts a rout for JMM and its allies in the Kolhan region, which has about 14 constituencies.

In terms of vote share, BJP is projected to have a sharp edge over the INDIA Bloc. In the Kolhan region, BJP alone is expected to fetch over 42 per cent of votes while garnering over 47 per cent of the vote share in the Palamu region.

Also, Babulal Marandi has emerged as the most popular face for Jharkhand Chief Minister, in the Matrize Survey.

On questions of the most popular face for Jharkhand Chief Minister, about 44 per cent of respondents nodded in favour of Babulal Marandi while 30 per cent wanted to see Hemant Soren as the next Chief Minister.

Matrize polling agency conducted this survey between October 15 and November 9.

“The Opinion polls carry a margin of error of + and – 3 per cent,” it said in a statement.

For gathering people’s opinions on upcoming elections, the agency took a sample of 63,842 individuals out of which over 30,000 and 21,000 comprise men and women while about 11,000 respondents are ‘young voters’.

Notably, Jharkhand will vote in two phases, with 43 constituencies going to polls on November 13 and 38 constituencies on November 20. The counting of votes will be held on November 23.