West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s injury following an incident in Nandigram has left an already polarised electorate even more divided.
According to a snap poll carried out by CVoter of around 1,500 people, 44.2 percent of the respondents said that they believe Banerjee’s claim that she was “attacked by 4-5 goons” and 39.2 percent said that they believe the Opposition’s claim, that the incident is a “drama”. The remaining 16.6 percent people replied “can’t say.”
The “drama” allegation has been made by a number of Opposition leaders such as Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh, his Congress counterpart Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and CPM leader Mohammad Salim.
Congress Supporters More Likely to Believe Mamata Than BJP & Left Ones
The interesting part is that while BJP and Left supporters were more likely to believe the Opposition’s claims, Congress supporters were more likely to believe Banerjee.
According to the survey, 47.6 percent of those who identified as Congress supporters said that they believe Mamata while 31 percent said they believe the Opposition, while the rest replied “can’t say”.
This means that a larger proportion of Congress supporters believed Banerjee rather than Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
In contrast, 46.4 percent Left supporters said they they believe the Opposition’s claim against 30.4 percent who said they believed the TMC chief.
This was even more stark among BJP supporters, 63 percent of whom said that they believe the Opposition while only 22.8 percent expressing faith in the CM’s version.
Not surprisingly, over two thirds of TMC supporters said that they believe Banerjee with only 17 percent responding otherwise.
Among those who don’t identify with any of the four main political formations, 27.5 percent said that they believe Banerjee, 37.3 percent said that they believe the Opposition and 35.3 percent said “can’t say”. The higher percentage of people in this category believing the Opposition should worry the TMC.
Who Gains From the Nandigram Incident?
On being asked who is likely to benefit following the Nandigram incident, 44.1 percent said the TMC would gain, 34.1 said it would be the BJP and 12.2 percent said it would be the Left-Congress-ISF alliance while 9.6 percent replied “can’t say”.
Even on this question, TMC and Congress supporters were more likely to say that “TMC will gain” while Left and BJP supporters were more likely to believe the reverse.
According to the survey, 67.7 percent TMC supporters and 53.6 percent Congress supporters said that the TMC is likely to gain after the Nandigram incident.
On the other hand, 59.3 percent BJP supporters said that the BJP would gain. Left supporters were divided with 36.6 percent saying that the Left led alliance would gain, 28 percent saying that the TMC would gain and 21.5 percent saying that the BJP would gain.
Among those who didn’t identify with any of the four main formations, 39 percent said that the TMC is likely to gain while 22 percent said that the BJP is likely to gain from the Nandigram incident.
More People Now Feel TMC May Win
Despite the TMC leading in terms of projected vote share, it is the BJP which was consistently ahead when it came to the question – “irrespective of which party you support, who is going to win the upcoming assembly elections?’.
This means that even though a larger proportion of people said they will vote for the TMC, a larger number thought that the BJP is winning.
This has reversed for the first time since 23 January. As of Thursday 11 March, 42.3 percent people said that they feel the TMC will win the election while 35.6 percent said it would be the BJP.
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