Popularity ratings trigger CM changes: Haryana, Raj CMs too on slippery ground

New Delhi: While five Chief Ministers have been dropped due to low popularity ratings as shown by the IANS CVoter tracker, data suggests that the Chief Ministers of Haryana and Rajasthan too are on a slippery ground.

The BJP recently changed the Chief Ministers in Gujarat, Karnataka and Uttarakhand. In the case of Uttarakhand, the Chief Ministers were changed twice this year. The Congress too followed suit by recently replacing its Chief Minister in Punjab.

Two other ‘unpopular’ Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry were ousted after the Assembly elections held earlier this year.

Yashwant Deshmukh, Founder-Director, CVoter International, said, “The ratings of IANS CVoter tracker have been vindicated across the board. While two CMs of Tamil and Puducherry were voted out by the people, the BJP had the wisdom to change its CMs in Gujarat, Karnataka and Uttarakhand. The Congress has also gone for a change in Punjab.”

“Next on the radar are the Chief Ministers of Haryana and Rajasthan — Manohar Lal Khattar and Ashok Gehlot, respectively — whose ratings have been consistently bad,” Deshmukh added.

Deshmukh said it shows that scientific data and public pressure has meaning and trackers like IANS CVoter fill in the blanks in the perception battle.

Earlier this year, IANS CVoter had shown that 7 out the 10 least popular Chief Ministers were from the BJP.

In the case of Uttarakhand, the BJP is back in business after the appointment of Pushkar Singh Dhami as the Chief Minister. The IANS CVoter tracker shows that after his appointment in July, the popularity ratings have improved and the BJP has good chances now in a three-cornered contest in Uttarakhand.

While the BJP appointed Tirath Singh Rawat as the CM in March, his popularity had continued to plunge. Therefore, in a course correction, BJP had to change two Chief Ministers in quick succession.

In the case of Karnataka, the public are as yet giving the benefit of doubt to new Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai. The only achievement as of now is that the public anger has been taken away by replacing B.S. Yeddyurappa. The ‘don’t know’ and ‘can’t say’ category is dominating in Karnataka’s perception battle as people are still getting to know the new CM.

The BJP changed Vijay Rupani with Bhupendra Patel as CM in Gujarat recently. There was a lot of anger during the Covid phase in April-May. Things started improving for Rupani from June as the BJP cadres lifted their spirits buoyed by the visits from the top leadership.

The damage control led to Rupani’s ratings improving, but the BJP sensed that it had hit a plateau and the kind of lead it is used to in Gujarat would be an uphill task. The BJP needs 15-20 per cent edge over the Congress in vote share in Gujarat.

Former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh of the Congress was in the bottom three among CMs for a long time. Data from the tracker suggests that he had to go and probably the Congress took too much time to make it happen.

Next on the radar, as per the data, could be Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, as the ‘not at all satisfied’ category of people is very high in the state and has been consistently so.

Similar set of data shows that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot may also be on the radar.IANS