Opinion Poll Gives NDA Thin Lok Sabha Majority With 285 Seats

Bhubaneswar: The NDA led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi could get a thin majority of 285 seats, only 13 seats more than the magic mark of 272, in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, says an India TV-CNX opinion poll telecast on the news channel on Sunday evening.

According to the survey, Odisha is likely to send 14 BJD MPs and 7 BJP MPs. The BJP had won just one out of the 21 seats in the state in 2014 elections.

The BJP’s individual national tally is likely to fall from 282 to 238 seats, 34 short of the midway mark in the 543-seat Lok Sabha. The Congress tally could jump from 44 in 2014 to 82 this time.

The opinion poll was conducted between March 1 and 7 in 193 out of 543 parliamentary constituencies of India, among a total voter sample of 38,600 respondents. These included 20,455 males and 18,145 females.

The opinion poll projected an NDA win in 285 seats, followed by the Congress-led UPA in 126 seats, while Others – which includes the SP, BSP, TMC, TRS, Biju Janata Dal, YSR Congress Party, Left Front, PDP of Mehbooba Mufti, AIUDF of Badruddin Ajmal, AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi, INLD, Aam Aadmi Party, JVM(P), AMMK of Tamil Nadu and independents – are projected to win in 132 seats.

The NDA includes the BJP, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, AIADMK, JDU, LJP, PMK and other regional parties, while the UPA includes the Congress, DMK, TDP, JDS, RJD, JMM, NCP, National Conference, IUML, and other smaller parties.

In the NDA, individual parties like Shiv Sena could win 10 seats, JDU 12, Akali Dal 3 and LJP 3.

In the UPA the DMK could win 16, Lalu Yadav’s RJD 8 and TDP 3.

Among “Others”, the Trinamool Congress could win 30 seats, SP 18, Mayawati’s BSP 16, YSR Congress 22, Telangana Rashtra Samithi 14, Biju Janata Dal 14, AIADMK 12 and Left Front 6.

After the air strike, the BJP is projected to make a clean sweep of all LS seats in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Delhi.

The survey covered both residential and business areas, remote and key localities, including upper middle-class colonies, and the sample respondents came from all walks of life, including cobblers, tailors, barbers, daily wage labourers, petty shopkeepers, mechanics, medical practitioners, auto-taxi drivers, real estate dealers, etc.  The error margin has been kept at +/-2.5 per cent.