Mamata to keep Bengal throne but BJP's lotus visibly in bloom: Opinion poll

In the fierce battle for power in West Bengal, incumbent Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely going to retain her CM chair with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) expected to win around 154-164 seats in the 294-seat assembly, showed an opinion poll.

The BJP, which has left no tactic unused in its arsenal, will likely get 102-112 seats, said the poll conducted by ABP in collaboration with CNX.

Read | Lotus is about to bloom in West Bengal because of mud created by TMC: PM Modi

This is the second ABP-CNX survey and shows that the TMC may get 41.53% of the total votes while the BJP is projected to get 34% votes. This brings the TMC's vote share to over 3% lesser than its 2016 tally where it won 211 seats. The poll has, however, raised the BJP's stake in the Assembly by a whopping 24%. In 2016, the BJP had won only 3 seats.

The biggest loser, according to the survey, is the Left-Congress alliance, whose seat share is projected to go down by 46%. The CPM-INC alliance, which won 76 seats in the 2016 election, is likely to get not more than 30 seats this year, the survey showed.

The key sentiment working against the BJP, according to poll respondents, is the increasing price of petroleum products. Approx 42% of the respondents believe that fuel price rise is a big failure of the Modi government.

West Bengal is slated for an eight-phase election from March 27. The results will be declared on May 2.