Karnataka polls: Unemployment, not corruption biggest issue in the poll bound state: Survey
3 min read 02 May 2023, 12:32 PM ISTThe Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023 are scheduled to be held on 10 May while the counting of votes will take place on 13 May.
PremiumAhead of the Karnataka Assembly elections, a survey conducted in the poll bound state showed unemployment as the most issue for voters. The survey, conducted by NDTV and Lokniti-CSDS showed that about 28 percent of the respondents pointed that unemployment was the biggest issue for them.
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The survey was conducted from 20-28 April among 2,143 registered voters in 82 polling booths, according to NDTV. The Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023 are scheduled to be held on 10 May while the counting of votes will take place on 13 May. The election will be held to elect the 224-member Assembly. This time it is expected that there will be close contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress along with the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) playing a possible kingmaker role.
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Coming back to the survey, it was found that about 28 percent respondent thought unemployment as biggest issue followed by poverty (25 percent). Other issues like lack of development, price rise, and education saw a seven percent vote from respondent.
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Last month, Rahul Gandhi while campaigning in the state had commented that the BJP government is the most corrupt in India. “They take 40% commission, the same money that was used to steal MLAs of the previous government." He also questioned, “Will the PM tell about source of money used to buy MLAs in Goa, MP, Karnataka, Northeast."
Even in his recent campaign, Rahul Gandhi has raised the question on corruption in the state. “This govt of the BJP is a stolen govt. BJP stole it 3 years ago by destroying democracy. Why is PM Modi not speaking about the corruption done by this govt? He should tell what steps he has taken to stop corruption in Karnataka," said Gandhi.
However, only six percent respondents found corruption as an issue in the state. When the respondents were asked on increase in corruption in the last five years, more than half i.e. 53 percent responded as yes while 35 percent responded saying that it remained the same and 11 percent said it has gone down.
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When respondents were asked if the if the prices increased or decreased in their areas in the last five years, majority i.e. 67 percent said prices have gone up, while 23 percent said that it was same while just 9 percent said that prices went down.
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Meanwhile, a pre-poll survey conducted by a Kannada media outlet Eedina showed a clear win for the Congress Party defeating the BJP in the upcoming assembly elections. The survey predicted that Congress will be headed for a comfortable majority with 134-140 seats from the 80 seats in 2018 Assembly elections while the BJP will get over 57-65 seats from the 104 seats in the earlier polls. Prior to this, another opinion poll survey conducted by CVoter predicted that a clear win for the Congress party wherein the survey showed the party will win 115-127 seats while BJP will get 68-80 seats, and JD-S will get 23-35 seats. It had also showed 57 percent of people were angry with the current government. Speaking of the government's performance, the survey showed that 47 percent rated performance by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai as poor while only 26.8 percent rated as good.
Congress Vs BJP
Congress has been one of the main players in Karnataka politics and has formed its government several times in the state. In 2008, the party suffered a major defeat, winning only 80 seats in the 224 assembly seats. But in 2013, it bounced back and won a majority winning 122 seats. In the previous election, it won 80 seats and formed a coalition government with JD(S) which collapsed in 2019. At present, it is the main opposition party in the state.
