New Delhi, April 16 : Days ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, a leading pollster has forecast that the BJP-led NDA is likely to miss its much-touted goal of winning 400 seats by a whisker.
The alliance is projected to win 393 out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, as per the latest estimates.
According to the opinion poll conducted by India TV-CNX, the BJP alone is likely to fetch 343 seats, while its allies will win close to 50 seats, taking the total tally to 393.
The Congress-led INDIA bloc is projected to finish below the 100-seat mark despite the support of the regional satraps.
The Trinamool Congress, YSRCP, TDP, and the BJD could be the other factions bagging significant numbers of seats, the survey said.
The Congress may be headed for its worst-ever performance in Lok Sabha polls, with the opinion poll putting its tally at just 40 seats. The Trinamool is projected to win 19 seats, followed by the DMK (17), TDP (12), Aam Aadmi Party (8), and the Samajwadi Party (4).
The BJP is expected to make a clean sweep in many states, including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana.
Uttar Pradesh, the biggest state with 80 Lok Sabha seats, will also be the biggest contributor to the BJP’s poll numbers, accounting for as many as 72 seats.
The Congress and the BSP are likely to draw a blank in UP, while the Samajwadi Party may manage to win four seats, it said.
The survey also predicted that the other states with a lion’s share of contribution to the BJP’s tally will be Bihar (17/40), Jharkhand (12/14), Karnataka (21/28), Maharashtra (29 /48), Odisha (10/21), Assam (11/14), and West Bengal (23/42) seats.
The India TV-CNX opinion poll says that it conducted surveys in all the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies in the country between April 1 and April 13, and took the views of close to 1.22 lakh respondents, including about 60,000 female voters.
