The Hindu : `BJP set to sweep western region'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 28, 2004

National

National

`BJP set to sweep western region'

NEW DELHI, MARCH 27. Showing a sweep for the BJP in western India, an opinion poll conducted for NDTV and the Indian Express by A.C. Nielson gave 27 seats to the BJP in Maharashtra and 20 to the Congress, besides one to others, while in Madhya Pradesh it said the BJP would secure 26 of the 29 seats and the Congress the remaining three.

In Chhattisgarh, the opinion poll said, the BJP was projected to get all the 11 Lok Sabha seats, while in Rajasthan the BJP was given 23 of the 25 seats and the Congress the rest. In Gujarat, where the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, were shown to have the highest feel-good vote, the BJP was far ahead with 24 of the 26 seats and the Congress only two.

DMK-Congress win predicted

In the southern region, the DMK-Congress alliance was projected to win 34 seats, a gain of 21 seats, while the AIADMK was pegged at five seats, down 21, with the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, recording the lowest rating in the country.

In Kerala, the Congress-led UDF was shown to get 14 seats despite the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, recording a 27 per cent rating. The LDF was pegged at six.

Karnataka presented an interesting picture with the BJP doing well in the Lok Sabha elections and the Congress in the Assembly elections. In Andhra Pradesh, the TDP and the BJP together were projected to get 34 seats followed by the Congress and the TRS seven and others one.

In the eastern region, the Left Front was shown as getting 34 seats in West Bengal and the Congress three, while the Trinamool Congress-BJP was predicted to get five seats.

In Assam, the survey said the Congress would secure seven seats, the BJP four and others three, while in Orissa the BJD-BJP was given 19 seats and the Congress only two.

In Bihar, the BJP-JD(U) was predicted to win 26 of the 40 seats followed by the RJD-led alliance 13 and others one, while in Jharkhand the BJP was given six seats and the Congress-JMM seven, four more than they had won last time, with others getting one.

In the northern region, the Congress was poised to get seven seats in Punjab and the SAD six, while in Haryana the Congress was expected to wrest six seats. The BJP and the INLD would share the remaining four seats.

The survey put the BJP's overall share in the NDA at 70 per cent, 10 per cent more than last time, and allies at 30 per cent.

Commenting on the opinion poll, the BJP leader, Pramod Mahajan, said this time the BJP was looking forward to cross the 200 mark. ``It will give stability to the NDA and power to us.''

The Congress leader, Kapil Sibal, said he was ``surprised'' over the party's showing in Karnataka and Bihar and added that opinion poll could not be totally correct. — PTI

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