Better employment opportunities, drinking water and access to better hospitals or primary healthcare centres are the top three voters’ priorities in Gujarat, according to an Association for Democratic Reforms survey.

The Gujarat Survey Report 2018 also reveals that most voters rate the Vijay Rupani government’s performance on these three counts as ‘below average.’

The ADR survey was conducted between October-December 2018, prior to the ongoing 2019 general elections. It covered 534 Lok Sabha constituencies with 2,73,487 voters participating in the exercise spread across various demographics.

The ADR survey finding shows that 42.68 percent of voters think that better employment opportunities is the top most priority of voters in Gujarat, followed by drinking water, preferred by 37.12 percent voters. As many as 30.23 percent voters consider better hospitals/primary healthcare centres as a major priority, the report said.

The performance of the government on all top three voters’ priorities of better employment opportunities (2.33 on a scale of 5), drinking water (2.60), and better hospitals/primary healthcare centres (2.62) was rated as below average, the report further revealed.

Meanwhile, the top priority for rural Gujarati voters remains availability of water for agriculture with 46 percent voters ranking it ahead of agricultural loan availability and agricultural subsidy for seeds and fertilisers.

The rural voters also believe that the government has performed ‘below average’ on all three counts with ratings between 2.43 and 2.15 on a scale of 5.

For the urban voters in Gujarat, the top most priorities were traffic congestion at 49 percent, noise pollution at 47 percent, and better employment opportunities at 45 percent. Urban voters also rated the government’s performance as ‘below average.’

Gujarat’s 26 Lok Sabha constituencies will go to polls on April 23. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had won all 26 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections riding on the popularity of the then-state chief minister Narendra Modi.

The Congress, however, improved its tally in the 2017 legislative assembly elections under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, winning 71 seats in the 182 member assembly, while the BJP won 99 seats.