In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP crossed the 272-mark comfortably on its own, winning 282 seats. (File) In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP crossed the 272-mark comfortably on its own, winning 282 seats. (File)

The Bharatiya Janata Paty (BJP), which won the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 with a majority on its own, would fall short of the magic number if elections were conducted today, a survey conducted by India Today-Karvy Insights shows. The Mood of the Nation (MOTN) Survey reveals the NDA will manage to win only 281 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, while the Congress, along with its present allies, will secure only 122 seats.

Surprisingly the survey, which was conducted between July 18 to July 29, shows that ‘others’ will have a major bearing on the 2019 general elections and will bag around 140 seats.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP crossed the 272-mark comfortably on its own, winning 282 seats, a gain of 166 from the previous election. The NDA had a total of 336 seats in the Lower House of the Parliament. For the Congress, it was one of their worst defeat and managed to win a paltry 44 seats with just 19 per cent vote share.

The Mood of the Nation (MOTN) Survey further predicts that the NDA will garner 36 per cent of the total votes, while the UPA will get five per cent less – at 31 per cent. Here too, the survey says that ‘others’ will manage to get more vote share than UPA at 33 per cent.

In the 2014 elections, BJP won 282 seats with just 31 per cent of the votes. The NDA’s combined vote share was 38.5 per cent and the UPA’s was just under 23 per cent. That leaves out nearly 39 per cent — or a chunk roughly equal to the NDA’s — for all others.

According to the survey, Narendra Modi emerged as the clear favourite to be the next prime minister. His popularity of 49 per cent is followed by that of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi at 27 per cent. However, three per cent of voters want Priyanka Gandhi as their PM.

None of the BJP leaders feature in the top three list of best chief ministers in the Mood of the Nation survey. While TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee topped the poll, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal were ranked third and fourth. An overwhelming 49 per cent of the respondents believe that the Opposition unity would translate into an electoral alliance against BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Moreover, the India Today poll shows Rahul Gandhi is the best person to lead such an alliance. However, in the case of a non-BJP, non-Congress front, Mamata Banerjee has the upper hand to lead the alliance, according to the survey.

Among the ministers in the Narendra Modi cabinet, Arun Jaitley has emerged as the best performer, according to the survey. Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj follow close behind while Nitin Gadkari and Nirmala Sitharaman rank fourth and fifth, respectively.

Unemployment, price rise, and corruption remain the three biggest issues of concern for Indians. Unemployment tops the list and 34 per cent of the respondents feel it is a burning issue.

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