Despite being hit by a sting operation on some of its leaders by a news portal, the Aam Aadmi Party today claimed that it will win 38 to 50 seats in the Delhi Assembly polls, scheduled for December 4.
AAP leader Yogendra Yadav, while releasing the fourth and fifth round of its survey results, said that even as the party was hit by the sting operation, it estimates to secure 35.6 per cent vote share and get 38 to 50 seats in the polls.
Claiming that there was a “wave” in favour of AAP, Yadav said although it is not possible to figure this out through opinion polls, there are some indicators which confirm this.
According to the fifth and final round of survey which was carried out yesterday in 17 Assembly constituencies with a sample size of 1,643 respondents, the party emerges as a clear leader with 36 per cent vote share, followed by BJP with 27 per cent and Congress 26 per cent.
“When it comes to choosing a chief ministerial candidate, Kejriwal has been a clear-cut winner since the beginning of the survey which was first carried out in February. In the fourth and fifth rounds, the situation has not changed as far as he is concerned,” Yadav said.
While Kejriwal has gained five percentage points in fourth round, carried out between November 18 to 21, and the fifth round, CM Shiela Dikshit gained just one percentage point from 28 per cent to 29 whereas BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan gained three per cent.
Yadav claimed AAP has managed to equalise with Congress its vote share among the Muslims and Dalit voters with 36 per cent each.
“Dalits have become disillusioned with the BSP. Their votes are not going to Congress and expected to come in AAP’s kitty,” he said.
The AAP leader admitted that the sting operation has somewhat dented the party’s prospects.
According to the survey, 51 per cent people heard about “some” CD, 38 per cent respondents had correct information about it, 14 per cent were affected with its content, 18 per cent felt some truth in the sting whereas 13 per cent rubbished it as fabricated.
This happened as media aired the sting operation at length “but failed to show our rebuttal on the issue”, Yadav said.
Party leaders Sanjay Singh, Prashant Bhushan and Punkaj Gupta also attacked BJP for failing to come out with constituency-wise manifestos, which they had announced to do on the lines of AAP.