Opinion poll predicts BJP win in Haryana, Maharashtra

The BJP is likely to romp home easily in the Assembly elections to Maharashtra and Haryana to retain power, with the Congress facing a near decimation in the latter, according to an opinion poll released on Friday.

The ABP-CVoter poll showed that BJP-Shiv Sena combine is likely to win 194 out of the 288 seats in Maharashtra while the BJP is likely to win 83 out of 90 seats in Haryana.

The Congress, which won just 15 seats and lost power in 2014 polls, will be reduced to just three seats in Haryana, if one goes by the opinion poll.

INLD, which suffered a split, and other parties could get the remaining four seats indicating that the Opposition in the state faces a near extinction.

In the 2014 elections, the BJP had won 47 seats while four INLD MLAs later joined the BJP. The INLD had 19.

For the Congress, the infighting has cost more than what was expected, and the split in INLD has rendered it weak.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has managed to emerge stronger despite dissatisfaction among a section of voters.

In Maharashtra, the BJP and Shiv Sena had contested the 2014 polls separately and had won 122 and 63 seats respectively. However, despite coming together, the opinion poll shows that they have only a marginal increase in the number of seats.

The Congress-NCP combine is predicted to win 86 seats, five more than what they won in 2014. However, a number of Congress and NCP MLAs had quit these parties and joined the BJP in the run up to the polls.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has managed to cement his prominence in the state politics by engineering defections and weakening both the Congress and the NCP.

Both Haryana and Maharashtra will be going to polls on October 21 and the counting of votes will take place on October 24.

Opinion Polls

Maharashtra -- 288 seats
BJP-Shiv Sena -- 194
Congress-NCP -- 86
Others -- 8

Haryana -- 90 seats
BJP -- 83
Cong -- 3
Others -- 4

Source: ABP/C-Voter