The Hindu : National : Poll survey predicts 276 seats for NDA

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 14, 2004

National

National

Poll survey predicts 276 seats for NDA

NEW DELHI, APRIL 13. The Bharaitya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance may corner about 276 seats getting a clear victory in the coming Lok Sabha polls with the saffron party improving its own tally to about 197 while the Congress would slip to an all-time low of 101 seats, according to projections of a latest opinion poll.

``The BJP, on its own, will improve on its 1999 performance of 182 seats and increase its tally to about 197. NDA allies are likely to lose seats and come down to 79 seats this time,'' said the poll conducted for Outlook by the Marketing and Development Research Associates.

The survey, carried out in 106 Parliamentary constituencies across 17 States, gives about 166 seats to the Congress and its allies as against its last tally of 154.

However, it projects that the Congress will slip to an all-time low of 101 seats, 13 less than its 1999 performance.

Congress allies are expected to increase their tally from 40 to 65 seats while other parties are expected to corner about 101 seats, a release from the magazine said.

Among the leaders, 61 per cent of the 12,722 respondents preferred Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the next Prime Minister and a majority 66 per cent among them were of the view that the NDA should be given another chance.

The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, found support among 29 per cent of the respondents as the prime ministerial candidate while a meagre one per cent favoured the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, the former West Bengal Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, and the Congress leader, Manmohan Singh, for the top post. — PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National