New Delhi: Despite her party BSP losing out to Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, Mayawati is still one of the frontrunners for the post of the chief minister in the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, according to STAR News-Nielsen second opinion poll carried out in the state. Both Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav are engaged in a very close battle.

On the question of the most favorite candidate for the chief ministership, 31 per cent of the respondents voted in favour of the BSP chief while the same number of respondents were in favour of SP's Mulayam Singh Yadav. 16 per cent voted for BJP's Rajnath Singh and 14 per cent in favour of Rahul Gandhi. 30 percent of the people wanted to see Mayawati as the leader of the opposition while only 15 per cent were in favour of Rahul Gandhi.

The performance of Mayawati as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh was rated "below average" with a mean score of 2.79 lower than her own government rating of 2.87.

In response to the specific question: Should the BSP get another chance to govern Uttar Pradesh? 32 per cent of the people were in favour while an astounding 62 per cent were opposed to the party coming back to power. The opinion was higher among Urban respondents (66 per cent). As per the survey, only 12 per cent of the respondents rated BSP government's performance as 'very good', 18 per cent rated it as 'good'.

People were satisfied with the progress in the condition of roads and transportation facility while they were discontented with the condition of the farmers and poverty in the satate.

According to the opinion poll, 35 per cent of respondents supported the Muslim quota within the 27 per cent OBC reservation. About 49 per cent of respondents opposed to it.