New Delhi:
Indian voters are increasingly unhappy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government because of high inflation and unemployment, a leading poll says, but he is still on track to easily win a third term in next year’s election on the back of his personal popularity.
Main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s popularity has risen and a new, 26-party opposition alliance called “India” is expected to do well, India Today magazine’s “Mood of the Nation” poll said on Friday.
However, Modi is far ahead of Gandhi with a 36-point lead as the most suitable candidate to become India’s next prime minister, and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win 287 seats in the 542-member lower house of parliament if elected. is now held, it said.
National elections are due by May 2024, although several state elections are expected to be held before then.
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Promising change, Modi came to power in 2014, and has since consolidated his hold by focusing on welfare economics, boosting infrastructure and aggressive Hindu nationalism.
Rivals say the government has ensured that the BJP line dominates mainstream newspapers, television news channels and social media with its militancy, often stifling critical voices.
India is sticky retail inflation It hit a 15-month high of 7.44% in July, rising to 11.5% on account of a rise in food price inflation, the highest in more than three-and-a-half years.
India is the fastest growing large economy in the world but the unemployment rate which has remained around 8% in recent months is considered a major challenge.
Economists say India needs to make 70 million New Job But only 24 million are likely to be created in the next 10 years.
The India Today survey, conducted twice a year, said 59% of more than 160,000 people polled between July 15 and August 14 said they were satisfied with the Modi government’s performance, down from 67% in the previous survey in January. Is.
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Similarly, 63% said Modi’s performance as prime minister was good, down from 72% in January. And 22% said their performance was poor, up from 16% in January.
promote gandhi
Whenever inflation rises, the number of discontent rises, said Yashwant Deshmukh, poll analyst at C-Voter, the agency that conducted the India Today poll.
Referring to Modi’s personal popularity after nine years in power, Deshmukh said, “But these are remarkable numbers.”
“There’s a sense of credibility, voters are seeing his efforts,” he said, adding that the bad news isn’t affecting his numbers much.
Congress party leader Gandhi has the highest approval rating in four years, the poll said, with 32% saying she is best suited to revive her party’s fortunes.
It also said Gandhi is the most suitable opposition leader to be prime minister, with 24% support, up from 13% in January, when he was the third choice.
Gandhi quit as Congress president after leading one of the worst showings in the 2019 elections.
However, he is believed to have revived his image after the five-month-long “Unified India March” across the country, which he started in September last year.
The Congress-led India coalition includes powerful regional parties with strong bases in the south and east, where the BJP is weak.
