Election now will fetch BJP more seats: opinion poll

As the Narendra Modi government prepares to complete three months, a survey has found that the BJP will get 314 seats, 32 more than what it got, if a Lok Sabha election was held now.

The 'Mood of the Nation' opinion poll found that 57 percnet of the respondents believe that Modi was best suited to be the prime minister and that support for the Bharatiya Janata Party continues to swell.

According to the poll by the India Today Group and Hansa Research, 48 percent of people surveyed think Modi has made ministers irrelevant and 47 percent are sure he will be able to resist the RSS agenda.

"Having lived through the diarchy of the UPA years, voters want power and responsibility to be vested in the same office," says the poll findings.

If a Lok Sabha election was held again, 48 percent say they would vote for the BJP again. Support for the BJP, though overwhelming, is still less than Modi's personal popularity.

"While 76 percent respondents feel safe under the Modi government, (only) 68 percent Muslims share the sentiment," says India Today quoting from its findings.

"Even more surprisingly, more Muslims say they will vote for the BJP (29 percent) if they had to again, rather than for the Congress (24 percent)."

According to the India Today Group-Hansa Research poll, 69 percent believe textbooks need to be revised, 43 percent do not want FDI in retail and an alarming 41 percent believe that criminal proceedings for comments in Facebook are not an infringement of freedom of speech.

As many as 49 percent believe their financial situation will improve in future while 65 percent think that the Modi government will be able to put the economy back on track in six months.

Respondents have indicated they want a strong opposition and hope the Congress will play that role in the Lok Sabha.

The respondents are also willing to give Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi another chance, preferring him over his sister Priyanka and even his mother Sonia Gandhi.

The people surveyed believe the First Family is the only one capable of providing leaders to the party.

The poll was conducted Aug 3-14 in 108 Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 29 states and three union territories.

The total number of respondents was 12,430. Only face-face and house-to-house interviews were conducted.