There is a general sense of satisfaction on the performance of the incumbent state government with however sporadic anti-incumbency prevailing in certain sections of society. The levels of satisfaction / dissatisfaction with the government performance vary from constituency to constituency and a section of society to the other depending upon the local issues and the concrete political climate prevailing in that Assembly segment.
Students of Department of Journalism, Osmania University, have undertaken a survey to assess the mood of the voter in four Assembly segments bordering the University campus — Amberpet, Musheerabad, Secunderabad and Uppal.
This survey is a part of their learning exercise on election reporting, which is part of the course curriculum. The survey is certainly not a representative of the prevailing electoral situation in these constituencies or in the city in general. Therefore, it is wrong to derive any universal conclusions from the survey. But it certainly helps in decoding the signals emanating from the electoral arena to an extent.
The survey revealed that there is a perceptible difference in the voters’ attitude towards the government between the beneficiaries of the welfare schemes and the non-beneficiaries. Aasara pensions and Kalyana Lakshmi / Shadi Mubarak schemes seem to be more popular welfare schemes. Even the non-beneficiaries are appreciating these schemes, especially the KalyanaLakshmi / Shadi Mubarak given the sentiment associated with marriage.
However, voters who are not the direct beneficiaries of any targeted welfare schemes expressed unhappiness over the quality of local governance and the civic issues left unresolved.
However, performance of the government alone seems to be not the only factor that is likely define the people’s mandate. The feedback of the people towards the incumbent MLA and the relative strengths of individual candidates will go a long way in shaping the voters’ choices. This trend is noticed in certain constituencies held by popular opposition MLAs, where the state government still enjoys favourable response.
The survey revealed a general sense of voter apathy that is a characteristic of an urban voter especially among the middle classes. They are generally cynical of the political system.
The voters are generally happy over the improved power situation and the maintenance of the law and order in the city. But they expressed dissatisfaction over bad condition of local roads.
Majority voters have not appreciated the necessity for premature dissolution of state Assembly. But they said it would not, in any way, impact their voting choices.
( Prof.K. Nageshwar is India’s noted political analyst. He is a former member of the Telangana Legislative Council and professor in the Department of Communication & Journalism, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India )
