New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP is on its way to secure a comfortable majority despite a close contest with opposition grouping of Congress and its allies, an opinion poll released on Monday said.
According to a pre-poll survey by C-Voter and released by Times Now, NDA will win the Assam Assembly Election 2021 with a narrow margin.
The NDA is likely to win 67 constituencies, UPA 57 and Others 2, in the 126-member Assam Assembly, the survey revealed.
While 42.29 per cent of respondents wanted BJP-headed NDA to return to power, 40.7 per cent wanted UPA to be in power.
With support of 45.2 per cent of participants, incumbent Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal is the most preferred chief ministerial choice.
The 2016 elections in Assam gave a fractured mandate, and no party got an absolute majority. The Congress had won 26 seats, while the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) bagged 13.
The BJP became the single largest party with 60 MLAs, while its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the BPF had won 14 and 12 seats respectively. The ruling coalition also had the support of an Independent MLA.
The Congress, which was in power for 15 years in Assam since 2001, has formed a 'Grand Alliance' with the AIUDF, Bodoland People's Front (BPF), CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) and the Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM) to fight the upcoming Assembly election against the BJP-led NDA.
The BJP has announced the first list of candidates for 70 seats, while left 26 and eight constituencies for its allies AGP and UPPL respectively.
The Congress on Saturday night issued the first list of 40 candidates for the first phase of polling on March 27.
Of the total 126 seats in the Assam Assembly, elections to 47 will be held on March 27, while 39 will go to polls on April 1, and voting in the remaining 40 seats will be held on April 6.
(With PTI inputs)
