The popularity of India's embattled Congress-led government, buffeted by corruption, high inflation and slowing economic growth, has fallen sharply among voters, a new poll said Saturday. The poll was carried out after 74-year-old self-styled Gandhian campaigner Anna Hazare ended his anti-corruption fast last weekend that shook the government by galvanising huge public support.
India's main Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would gain 32 percent of the votes across the country if general elections were held now, the STAR News-Nielsen opinion survey suggested. Congress, led by 78-year-old Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would garner just 20 percent of votes in the poll of 8,926 respondents taken in 28 cities. Other voters favoured regional parties or were undecided. Hazare's "crusade against corruption has given the beleaguered opposition, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party, a platform to contest" the general election, the pollster said.
Right now in the decision-making elected lower house of parliament, Congress holds 207 seats while the BJP has 115 seats. The BJP also turned out to be the most favoured party in all regions except in the south where Congress was slightly ahead.
The findings were in stark contrast to a similar survey by STAR News-Nielsen in May before the Hazare movement seized the country's attention. Then, Congress was ahead with 30 percent of the vote share while BJP had only 23 percent. Also, the Congress was leading in most areas of the country.
Hazare ended his nearly two-week fast in New Delhi after a day-long debate in parliament in which lawmakers agreed in principle to his conditions for a tough new anti-corruption law. Tens of thousands of supporters gathered every day in a large open air venue to cheer on the man who became a symbol of national dissent. Hazare began his hunger strike as the government was already on the defensive over a series of multi-billion-dollar scandals implicating top officials, near double-digit inflation and an economy that is losing steam.
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