Pre-poll surveys predict comfortable majority for Trinamool

Opinion polls broadcast by two television channels have predicted a comfortable victory for the Trinamool Congress in the West Bengal assembly elections. Both the surveys forecast that the BJP may win only one seat in the 294-member assembly.

The ABP Ananda-AC Nielsen survey, conducted between March 10 and 21, claimed that the Trinamool would win 178 seats, with the Congress-Left Front alliance finishing with 110.

Five seats would go to other parties, according to the survey broadcast on ABP Ananda.

Another poll conducted by GFK-Mode and broadcast on Bengali news channel 24 Ghanta, gave 200 seats to the Trinamool, and 90 to the Congress-Left Front team.

Other parties could bag three seats.

The ABP Ananda-AC Nielsen survey, however, indicated a neck-and-neck race between the Trinamool and the Congress-Left Front.

While the incumbent Trinamool could win 45 percent of the mandate, 44 percent of the voters preferred the opposition alliance, 5 percent were with the BJP, and 6 percent could support others.

According to the GFK-Mode poll, the Trinamool could get 46 percent of the votes, the Congress-Left Front alliance 39 percent, and the BJP 6 percent. Nine percent of the votes could go the way of others.

The GFK-Mode survey, conducted after the purported sting operation of Narada News that showed several top Trinamool leaders allegedly accepting bribes, claimed that the Trinamool would lose 3 percent votes as a fallout of the footage.