A pre-poll survey by Ippothu.com, a Chennai based digital news start-up, has found that the ruling AIADMK led by J Jayalalithaa is all set to score a landslide victory in the May 16 election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly. A sample survey held across the State in the second week of April says that the AIADMK-led alliance would win 210 to 218 seats in the Assembly election.
The survey, led by Peer Mohammed (39), a widely respected scribe in Tamil Nadu, has some shocking news for the Karunanidhi-led DMK. “The DMK-led alliance could end up behind the Vijayakanth-led alliance, though both will get only few seats,” said the survey results.
According to Peer Mohammed, who personally led the team of investigators and drafted the questionnaire, the survey covered a sample of a little over 4,500 voters. “The voters were chosen from the voters’ list using the following criteria: One out of every two voters is a woman; One out of every three voters is in the age group 18-30 years; One out of every three voters is in the age group 30-55 years; One out of every three voters is in the age group above 55 years old,” said Mohammed.
Mohammed said he commissioned the best brains in the industry to decipher the findings and reach the figures which may not be welcomed both by the DMK front as well as the PWF. Though he declined to reveal the name of the agency which analysed the findings, he said the identity of the experts have been kept secret only for the time being.
Mohammed said the survey found that 90 per cent of the rural population and more than 50 per cent of the urban population have embraced the AIADMK because of the series of welfare measures launched by Jayalalithaa during the last five years. The survey has also found that the BJP and the PMK are likely to draw a blank in Tamil Nadu. He also said that if the present trend continues in Tamil Nadu for the next 28 days, Jayalalithaa is on the verge of creating history in Tamil Nadu by becoming the first chief minister after M G Ramachandran to win two successive assembly elections. The last time Tamil Nadu saw a reigning chief minister winning an assembly election to comeback to power was in 1984 when MGR, Jaya’s mentor returned to power.