By IANS
New Delhi : Indian communists, now holding the government to ransom over the India-US civil nuclear deal, will lose heavily if a Lok Sabha poll were held now, their tally falling from the present 60 to as low as 38, a new survey says.
According to the The Week magazine-CVoter survey, the tally of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) will, however, go up from the 145 seats it gained in 2004 to between 172 and 192.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will also see a surge, from the 135 it bagged three years ago to 178-198, the Week said in its latest issue.
Another dramatic gainer will be the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which now rules Uttar Pradesh. It will get 45 to 55 seats, the survey said.
This would leave the fledgling United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), which includes the Samajwadi Party, the AIADMK and the Telugu Desam Party, with 44 to 54 seats, leaving the Left with just 38 to 48 seats.
Forty-six percent of the respondents said India would benefit from the India-US nuclear agreement, which the Left is bitterly opposed to on grounds that it would push New Delhi into the strategic embrace with Washington.
Twenty-eight percent disagreed while 26 percent were undecided.
Asked if the nuclear deal and relations between the two countries were important election issues, 38 percent replied in the affirmative, 33 percent said ‘no’ and 29 percent were undecided.
An overwhelming 63 percent of the respondents felt that the stability of the government would be an important election issue, compared to 26 percent who disagreed.
Fifty-five percent also felt that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had done a good job since taking office in May 2004. But former prime minister and BJP star Atal Bihari Vajpayee got the highest ratings as the best possible prime minister (24 percent).
Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi came a close second with 22 percent votes, followed closely by Manmohan Singh (20 percent).
Asked who will form the next government if fresh parliamentary elections were held now, most (42 percent) felt it would be the Congress and allies without the Left Front. But 18 percent felt the Congress and Left Front would again come together.
Nineteen percent thought the BJP and allies would form a new government, while just six percent thought the UNPA, or Third Front, had a chance of coming to power.