Opinion polls cold comfort for NDA

MANDATE 2004

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is likely to consolidate its position in the penultimate phase of polling on May 5 and manage a "slender majority" by getting 267-279 seats in the Lok Sabha, an opinion poll conducted by Star News said on Monday. Another opinion poll by NDTV put the figure at 245-265.

The Star News poll gave the Congress and its allies 169-181 seats, while the NDTV poll gave them 180-200.

The Star News poll, conducted for 83 seats going to the polls on May 5, gave the NDA 48-56 seats and the Congress and its allies 12-20 seats, and others 11-19. The NDTV poll gave the NDA 55 seats, a gain of 14, the Congress and its allies 12, a loss of eight, and others 16, a loss of six.

The Star TV poll, involving over 6,000 respondents, covered 65 seats in four states and was conducted between April 28 and May 2. The poll predicted a major gain for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, where it was likely to get 13 of the 30 seats.

While the Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party were likely to get four seats each, the Samajwadi Party's tally was pegged at nine.

In Bihar, where polling will be held for the remaining 12 of 40 seats, the NDA was likely to get eight and RJD-led Congress alliance three and others one.

The BJP seemed poised to win 18 of the 25 seats in Rajasthan, the rest going to the Congress. Madhya Pradesh also looked to be going the BJP way, the poll said.