So, I conducted a poll today. On Twitter. Didn’t set up an online poll because if I can buck the system and vote multiple times, so can anyone else. Therefore this was done the old fashioned way.
I asked a simple question : If there was an election tomorrow which party will you vote for.
- BJP/NDA
- BSP
- Congress/UPA
- Left
The results were as follows:
182 people took the poll (out of 5000+ people who follow me)
- 75 said BJP
- 50 said Congress
- 25 said depends on Candidate
- 6 said anyone but the Congress
- 5 said Left
- 3 said BSP
- 16 said none of the above
- 2 said Team Anna
Their tweets to me were collated on an excel spreadsheet, with names, weeding out duplicate voters 😀
There was a reason that Team Anna was not included in the poll – they aren’t a political party. There was a reason BSP was included (and many asked me why) – that is because it is a National Party. Where people indicated TMC or SS – i added the number to their current alliance partner UPA or NDA.
This poll is not representative insofar as most voters in India are not on twitter.
Frankly I was surprised at the numbers polled by the Congress. Was also surprised at the numbers who said candidate not party. I expected the BJP to get higher votes.
The only thing that this dipstick survey tells me is that all is not lost for both parties. both, if infused, by that old quality “Leadership” and decision making – maybe given a chance by the voters. But, they have to reach out, beyond TV studios and beyond sound bytes and go and listen to the citizens of India. Hubris is a terrible quality for most of us in general, and political representatives who depend on voters, in particular.
My advice to them – go to your constituencies and hear the anger. Be humble. Do not be glib. Do not abuse. Do not run down others. Tell them what you can do, without telling them how useless the rest are….it may actually stand the representatives in good stead.
This is what has been causing me disbelief the past few weeks. While people might be grumbling about Congress in private, the protests have never been anti-congress on the face. Nobody has ever shouted “Congress hai hai”. There is a general consensus among most protestors that this loot of public money is not being done by Congress alone. Every body who is in power is doing it.
The more Congress tries to take foolish steps, the closer they are to the danger of targetted specifically as a corrupt party.
There are a huge number of Congress voters in the protesters. The more congress tries to find out RSS or foreign hand in the crowd, the more they are in danger of delineating their own support base.
It is really frustrating for Congress voters right now. They keep hoping against hope that there is some spark left in the party. If one is not willing to vote for non-congress parties and Congress itself is in tatters, it is only going to ensure more barren poll booths in the country.