Karnataka assembly elections: Siddaramaiah top choice for CM, BSY distant third says survey

Siddaramaiah leads in terms of choice of Chief Minister of Karnataka, a survey has said. As part of the Mood of the Nation Survey, Lokniti-CSDS conducted an addition exercise to gauge the mood of the people of Karnataka ahead of the Assembly Elections 2018.

34 per cent people chose Siddaramaiah as their top choice for CM. Surprisingly Yeddyurappa of the BJP comes third with just 14 per cent. H D Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) comes second with 19 per cent of the votes for CM. Surprisingly Mallikarjuna Kharge of the Congress had 10 per cent of the respondents backing him.

The national coordinator of the Lokniti, Dr. Sandeep Shastri under whose overall guidance the survey was conducted said that no names were suggested when it came to who the respondents preferred as the CM.

He said that women supported to Siddaramaiah as he more popular compared to his rivals especially in the smaller towns and cities.

Kumaraswamy got more backing in Bengaluru city. In the case of Yeddyurappa, his support was uniform across both the rural and urban areas.

Yeddyurappa got more support among the Lingayats while among the Vokkaligas, Kumaraswamy enjoyed more support. Kharge got more backing from the SC and other social groups.

Nearly a quarter said that they would go by the track record of the performance of the ruling party. The respondents in the rural areas gave more preference to agriculture related issues- 11 per cent while those in the urban areas spoke of development related issue- 6 per cent.

Nearly 47 per cent voters said they would vote for the Congress if Lok Sabha elections were held today. The BJP got the support of 27 per cent respondents and the Janata Dal (Secular), 20 per cent.

Most preferred CM:

• Siddaramaiah: 34 per cent
• H D Kumaraswamy: 19 per cent
• B S Yeddyurappa: 14 per cent
• Mallikarjuna Kharge: 10 per cent
• Others: 16 per cent