SP feud benefits Akhilesh; he's more popular than Mulayam, shows survey

TNN / Updated: Oct 28, 2016, 20:24 IST

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The ongoing feud in the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Yadav clan seems to have benefited Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who has emerged stronger than ever, an international polling agency's survey revealed on Friday.

SP feud benefits Akhilesh; he's more popular than Mulayam, shows survey

Mulayam Singh Yadav (left) with Akhilesh Yadav.

Key Highlights

An October poll suggests that voters overwhelmingly prefer UP CM Akhilesh Yadav to his father Mulayam as the Samajwadi Party's CM candidate for next year's Assembly polls.
The poll shows that many voters think Akhilesh is trying to clean up his party's "goonda" image.

NEW DELHI: The ongoing feud in the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Yadav clan seems to have benefited Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav , who has emerged stronger than before, a survey done by C-Voter showed on Friday.
In the last one month, Akhilesh Yadav's popularity has increased manifold in SP's traditional bastions, the survey says.
The polling agency conducted two surveys - the first in September and the second in October - since the battle royale between Shivpal , Mulayam and Akhilesh became public.

And a comparision of the two survey results suggest that Akhilesh has the upper hand.
The survey was conducted on 12,221 people across all 403 Uttar Pradesh Assembly constituencies. Up to 75.7% of respondents would like to see Akhilesh, rather than Mulayam, as the state's next Chief Minister.

The survey also shows that Akhilesh has an astounding lead over his father in Samajwadi Party 's core vote bank - that of Muslims and Yadavs.

Akhilesh clear favourite for UP CM in contest with Mulayam-Infographic-TOI5

Mulayam's brother Shivpal Yadav, on the other hand, doesn't seem to pose any challenge to Akhilesh when it comes to perceived popularity. Up to 83.1% of poll respondents think Akhilesh is more popular than his uncle, and 6.1% think the opposite.
Shivpal's perceived popularity has actually diminished - upto 6.9% of respondents in the C-Voter's September poll said he was more popular than his nephew - whereas Akhilesh's has increased by 6 points, from 77.1%.

The survey also shows that Akhilesh has a 'clean' image, in a party that has been accused of 'goonda raj'. 68% of poll respondents say Akhilesh is trying to change his party's 'goonda' image, although only 28.9% think he's succeeding.
In addition, more than 63% say Akhilesh shouldn't let politicians like DP Yadav and gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari join the SP.

Akhilesh clear favourite for UP CM in contest with Mulayam-Infographic-TOI3

Allegations and counter-allegations have been flying thick and fast between the Akhilesh and Mulayam-Shivpal camps, but the chief minister seems to have won the battle of perception.
The lowest point came on October 24, when both camps spoke against each other publicly. Mulayam later tried to pacify them by saying the Samajwadi Party was united.
He also said the party would pick a Chief Minister after the state poll results are out.
Read this story in Hindi
Content courtesy: NavBharat Times

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