Hung house in 2014, NDA largest alliance: Survey

Survey shows the incumbent UPA suffering a severe setback, being projected to lose over half the seats it presently has

A opinion survey predicts a Lok Sabha after the 2014 elections where no party or even an electoral alliance has a majority of the seats.

The survey, however, shows the incumbent Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) suffering a severe setback, being projected to lose more than half the seats it presently has.

The poll was conducted by India TV-Times Now-C Voter. The pollsters said the survey was conducted between August and October, covering the period before and after Narendra Modi's elevation as the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate. It says the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will be the largest bloc, with 186 seats; the UPA will get 117. In the 2009 elections, the NDA's was 159 and the UPA managed 259 seats. The survey projects regional parties to get 240 seats.

The survey predicts the Congress' tally falling from 206 in the 2009 elections to 102 in 2014. The BJP is expected to win 162 seats as against 116 in 2009.

A state-wise breakup shows the Congress losing the majority of its seats in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Haryana. It was, however, gaining seats in Karnataka, at the BJP's expense.

The survey predicts 32 seats for the Left Front, 25 for the Samajwadi Party, 28 for Jayalalithaa's AIADMK, 31 for Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, 23 for Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and 14 for Lalu Prasad's Rashtyriya Janata Dal. Both the YSR Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi were projected to win 13 seats each in Andhra.

In Bihar, the survey predicts Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) reduced to nine seats as compared to the 20 it had won in 2009. The DMK is also expected to suffer loses, with five seats in 2014 from the present 18 seats.