The ruling Samajwadi Party has a slight edge over its main rivals – BJP and BSP – in the 2017 UP Assembly polls

Lucknow, Aug 23: According to an ABP News- Lokniti – CSDS survey, the ruling Samajwadi Party has a slight edge over its main rivals – Bharatiya Janata Party and Bahujan Samaj Party – in the 2017 UP Assembly polls.

As per the survey, 30% of voters, surveyed from 23 July to 7 August, opted to vote for SP if the elections were to be held now.

Which means, the 403-member House will be divided if the SP wins about 141-151 seats as the single largest party. However, with 124-134 seats, the BJP will fare better than Mayawati’s BSP, leaving Congress with only 8-14 seats.

Clearly, SP is the choice with 30% of voters, BJP with 27% of the voters, followed by BSP at 26%, and Congress with a mere 5% vote share.

Looking back at the 2012 Assembly polls, the BJP was projected the giant in terms of votes with an 11% point swing.

However, if the 2014 Lok Sabha elections are studied, the BJP went down by a massive 16 points. With the swing and miss, SP and BSP now stand in favour.

Meanwhile, Brajesh Pathak, a former Lok Sabha MP and sitting Rajya Sabha member, one of the architects of Mayawati-led BSP’s 2007 winning mantra of Brahmin-Dalit coalition, joined the BJP here on 21 August in the presence of Amit Shah, Union minister Mahesh Sharma and general secretaries Arun Singh and Anil Jain.