AAP set to sweep poll in Punjab, Kejriwal favourite face for Punjab CM: Survey

CHANDIGARH: The race for 2017 assembly elections would be keenly watched event, if the HuffPost-CVoter tracking polls survey is an indication. It has predicted thumping majority for Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) with 94 to 100 seats in the 117 member assembly.
Most intresting fact of the survey is emergence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as most favourite face for the post of Chief Minister of Punjab. Capt Amarinder Singh of Congress is the second most favourite man for the post. While 59% respondents wanted Kejriwal to be declared the chief ministerial candidate for Punjab, 51% said they would choose Arvind Kejriwal over Amarinder Singh. They also chose him over deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal who has got only 7 percent votes against 51 percent by Kejriwal and 35 percent by Amarinder Singh.
From among the choice between Capt Amarinder Singh and Parkash Singh Badal of SAD, the people preferred the former with 37 percent and and only 16 percent voted for Badal.
The 2017 assembly election might see people voting for a popular face. Amarinder Singh has put Congress at little higher scale but not in position to topple the Kejriwal in popularity. AAP’s vote share and Kejriwal’s popularity go hand-in-hand. At the same time, the Congress surge has not impacted AAP.
The survey conducted in February 2016 shows AAP is expected to bag 94-100 out of the 117 seats. The same agency had predicted 83-89 seats for AAP a poll in April 2015, The poll has Congress at the second position with 8-14 seats in the assembly, down from the 12-18 seats projection last year. The SAD-BJP alliance comes in third with 6-12 seats, down from 13-19 seats last year.
Again, if the election was held today, 48% would vote for AAP, the survey said. The survey points out that the party’s growing popularity could be arrested if it fields anyone other than Kejriwal as its CM. Even though AAP leaders have been denying speculations that Kejriwal might bring his deputy Manish Sisodia at the helm in Delhi and take over as Punjab CM instead, the survey points out that a scenario popular among AAP supporters is one where the party elevates Sisodia and Kejriwal leads the campaign from the front as the chief ministerial candidate in Punjab.