If elections were held today, NDA would wallop UPA: Survey

The findings of a new survey may indicate why the government is intent on staying in power till the next year. A survey done by ABP News and Neilsen says that if the elections were to be held today the Congress led UPA could end up with just 136 seats in the Lok Sabha while the NDA could finish with 206 seats. Neither of the alliances were seen reaching the necessary majority of 272 seats in the Lower House of Parliament and regional parties would have held the key to the Prime Minister’s office with 167 seats between them, reported Business Standard. The Left parties could also have played an important role with the survey forecasting 34 seats for them. The survey split the nation into four zones in order to further analyse the outcome. The UPA is predicted to win 33 seats in the east zone and 36 in the north as compared to the NDA’s 49 and 67 respectively. [caption id=“attachment_800861” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Can the BJP capitalise on popular sentiment. Reuters[/caption] In the south zone, given both alliances are devoid of alliances with any major regional parties, neither is expected to do well with the UPA and NDA expected to get only around 36 seats while the NDA would win only around 10. The key could be held by the southern regional parties who could contribute up to 75 seats. The UPA, however, is expected to do worse in the Western zone, with the NDA expected to garner upto 80 seats while the Congress and its allies expected to garner only around 36 seats. However, the vote share for either of the alliances isn’t expected to change by much, says the survey, with the UPA expected to get 26 percent while the NDA could get 27 percent. A large chunk of the voters, around 26 percent, said despite having voted for the Congress in the last elections they would vote for the BJP in this elections, reported Newsbullet . While the survey seems to predict a completely fractured mandate that would be held together by regional powers, it indicates that Manmohan Singh may still be the Congress’ best bet as a prime ministerial candidate. Despite being buffeted by allegations of sitting on corruption, almost 70 percent of the respondents thought he had done a good job or at least an average one. Around 28 percent think he’s done very poorly, reported the Telegraph. Narendra Modi is the favoured candidate to lead the country but leads Manmohan Singh only by a bit, and though they may not be in favour of it, they don’t mind Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi in charge either. The survey only seems to be reinforcing what has been predicted for some time now. The Congress and the BJP may come to power, but it will be only if regional leaders like Mulayam Singh, Jayalalithaa and others choose to let them stay in power.