Survey results stir discontent among Congress leaders ahead of elections

What surprised many was that even before a candidate had joined the party and assured a ticket from a constituency, the survey results indicated that he would win with a bumper majority.

Hyderabad: As political parties are brainstorming over candidates for the ensuing elections, a few poll survey agencies are apparently building up a narrative, taking even the parties that hired them by surprise with their results. This was evident at a Congress Screening Committee meeting held here recently.

Citing the results of a survey conducted by Sunil Kanugolu, a poll strategist hired by the party, a few senior leaders in the party were insisting on issuing tickets to their followers, which eventually led to internecine clashes within the party.

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What surprised many was that even before a candidate had joined the party and assured a ticket from a constituency, the survey results indicated that he would win with a bumper majority.

Irked over the State Congress leaders’ demands, especially pointing to Kanugolu’s survey results, a senior AICC leader, who was part of the Screening Committee, was very upset with the survey and its results.

He even said that if candidates were to be finalized based on the findings of surveys conducted by individuals or agencies, what was the purpose of constituting the Screening Committee, according to a senior leader from Telangana Congress.

It is not just Telangana Congress even Karnataka Congress leaders were miffed with the poll analyst stating that in many constituencies, his findings failed to reflect the true picture of the voters’ mood, the senior leader said. While this was the case of a particular analyst, a few others were going a step ahead and even suggesting names of candidates to be fielded from a particular constituency.

On September 14, Partha Das of Chanakya Political Consultancy tweeted: “As per our survey, if Congress declares TPCC president A Revanth Reddy as Chief Minister candidate, it will help Congress in the elections. As per our survey, he should contest from Uppal constituency. He will win the seat and it will help Congress in neighbouring seats…”