By Xinhua
New Delhi : The ruling Congress will make major gains if mid-term elections are called but its Left allies that have been targeting the government over the India-US nuclear deal stand to lose badly, according to an opinion poll conducted by the NDTV news channel.
The Congress will gain 40 seats countrywide, while the Left will lose 25 seats, the poll says. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would lose 22 seats, while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will be a major gainer, more than doubling its tally from 19 to 42.
If mid-term elections are to be held now, the Congress would win 185 seats, up from 140 in 2004, while its allies like the Rashtriya Janata Dal would lose. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) total would stand at 232, up 20 seats from its 2004 tally of 212, according to the poll.
The Left would win just 39 seats, a major downslide from the 64 it won in the last elections.
The BJP would win 116 seats, down 22, while its allies would win 42, giving the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) 158 seats, down from the 180 it got in 2004.
However, the major winner would be the BSP, which would win 42 seats – and probably emerge as kingmaker.
The Samajwadi Party would win just 18 seats, down from the 36 in 2004.
However, the results would not entirely be determined by the India-US nuclear deal.
The poll, conducted by Gfk-Mode, found that 44 percent people were unaware of the deal, and of the 56 percent who did know about it, 60 percent said India should go ahead with the deal.
Also, 63 percent respondents said they trusted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the nuclear deal, while 37 percent said they trusted the Left.
The poll surveyed 12,179 people across 120 constituencies in the country between Aug 23 and 27. Significantly, 75 percent of the respondents were from rural India.