Editorial
The Congress-led UPA is set to lose the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and regional parties will be a key factor in deciding who gets to rule India, said a survey released Wednesday.
The India TV-Times Now-C Voter survey showed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) gaining a winning edge over the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
Regional parties, it said, were expected to get as many as 240 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats in 2014. The president nominates two Anglo-Indians for the two remaining seats in the lower house.
According to the survey, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA would improve its 2009 tally of 159 to 186 in 2014, the Congress-led UPA would slide from 259 to a paltry 117.
The survey projected 35 percent vote share for the NDA against 27 percent for the UPA and 38 percent for the regional parties.
Regional parties will thus hold the key to government formation in New Delhi.
These include the AIADMK, Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Left Front, Trinamool Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Biju Janata Dal (BJD), YSR Congress and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
The survey included the BJP, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, RPI (Athawale), Nationalist People's Party of Meghalaya and Haryana Janhit Congress in the NDA.
It counted the UPA as the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Muslim League, National Conference and Kerala Congress (Mani).
Partywise detail shows the Congress tally tumbling from 206 seats in 2009 to just 102 in 2014, its lowest ever.
The BJP, which won 116 seats in 2009, is projected to get 162 seats, but still far short of what it won in 1999.
The survey says the Left Front may win 32 seats, BSP 31, AIADMK 28, SP 25, Trinamool 23 and RJD 14. In Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress and TRS may capture 13 seats.
Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United, which won 20 seats in 2009, is projected to get only nine seats.
In Tamil Nadu, the DMK's tally is estimated to crash from 18 to five.
–Indo-Asian News Service
