The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) may win the biggest chunk, 18 out of the 25 Lok Sabha seats, in Andhra Pradesh, according to the latest News18 opinion poll.
This is a big jump for the coalition, which is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and includes Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party and Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena. In 2019, the NDA bagged 2 seats.
The incumbent Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, whose Yuva Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) won 22 seats in 2019, may find itself at an appalling 7 seats this time, the survey showed. The I.N.D.I.A. alliance, which includes Congress, is projected to win zero seats.
Poll Projection
| Party | Projected seats | Vote share |
| NDA | 18 | 50% |
| YSRCP | 7 | 41% |
| I.N.D.I.A. | 0 | 6% |
| Others | 0 | 3% |
Key issues
The election will be a test for Jagan's populist welfare policies, promises of which had catapulted him to power in 2019. This time around, however, employment is the top issue for the respondents, with 67% saying it would play a role in their decision-making, clearly showing a hunger for opportunity. Law and order (49%) and infrastructure and development (40%) were the next two biggest issues, with inflation (35%) and corruption (26%) emerging as niggling issues. A surprising 17% said they would cast their vote based on religion.
Infrastructure and development could play out favourably for Naidu, who, during his nine years as the chief minister of the undivided Andhra Pradesh, was popularly referred to as the "CEO of the state" for his infra-heavy policies. While his single-minded focus on developing infrastructure for the new state capital, Amaravati, was one of the factors that led to his humiliating defeat in 2019, a 40% support could very well turn the tide this time around.
The News18 poll also asked 915 BJP voters if they would vote for a candidate purely based on Narendra Modi's popularity, and nearly half, 49%, replied in the affirmative.
This is the third Lok Sabha election in the state after Telangana was spun out in 2014.
Both Jagan and Naidu courted the BJP for support ahead of this year's election, with the latter sealing the deal, with BJP contesting from six seats.
(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)
First Published: Mar 14, 2024 7:30 PM IST
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