New Delhi: An internal survey conducted by the Delhi BJP ahead of the upcoming municipal polls after the appointment of Lok Sabha member Manoj Tiwari has given the saffron party a reason to cheer. A survey conducted by the party in 33 of the 70 Assembly constituencies indicates that the party was going to get a majority of seats in all the three corporations in the municipal polls expected in April.
Most of these Assembly constituencies are either dominated or have a sizeable presence of the Poorvanchali migrant population — residents from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar —from where the Bhojpuri singer and actor-turned-politician, Mr Tiwari, himself belongs.
A BJP insider said that the survey was conducted to access whether Mr Tiwari’s appointment as Delhi unit president had turned the tide in the saffron outfit’s favour. The survey was carried out in those Assembly seats which had Poorvanchali population of 15 per cent or more.
The surveyor has rated party performance in five grades — A+, A, B+, B, and C. The ones rated A+ are sure shot and traditional bastions of the BJP. The seats where the party got A grade are the ones where the party has its sitting councillor and it is leading as well. The ones with B+ grade indicate that the party is leading in these seats. And B means party stands a fifty-fifty chance. The constituencies to be worried about are the ones where the party has got a C grade.
Among the 33 Assembly constituencies surveyed by the party, only the Vikashpuri, Okhla and Deoli constituency were rated in C category. In contrast, the party was rated A+ in Moti Nagar and Mustafabad.
In nine Assembly seats, the party’s performance after Mr Tiwari’s appointment was rated as A, in 10 constituencies it was ranked as B+ and as B in nine other seats.
A party leader said that the majority of these seats are those where the Poorvanchali population is very high and Mr Tiwari’s popularity graph is also very high because of his star status in the Bhojpuri film industry.
“Trends of one the earliest survey conducted after Mr Tiwari’s appointment shows that his popularity will be playing a crucial role in the coming municipal elections. Even in the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections, Mr Tiwari had campaigned in 19 of these seats, out of which, the party had won 14,” he added.
