LS polls: BJP to win in Bihar, TMC in Bengal, BJD in Odisha, says Survey

Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) may clinch the highest number of Lok Sabha seats in the states of West Bengal and Odisha, respectively, while the BJP will outperform its rivals in Bihar, according to a survey conducted in the run-up to the general elections.

As per the CNN-IBN and Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) survey, Aam Admi Party (AAP) will only make marginal inroads nationally with 4 per cent of the people across the country favouring it. The new outfit may, however, draw 48 per cent of votes in Delhi, the findings of the survey reveal.

As per the current public mood, in West Bengal, TMC will get 20 to 28 seats, while the Left Front will be a distant second with 7 to 13 seats, according to the survey.

The Congress would get 5 to 9 and the BJP 0-2 seats.

Interestingly, though 60 per cent respondents in West Bengal expressed satisfaction with Mamata Banerjee's performance as the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi is the most preferred person for the Prime Minister's post, according to the survey.

Modi was favoured by 18 per cent people, above 11 per cent respondents who preferred Banerjee.

In the state of Bihar, which saw an acrimonious separation of allies BJP and JD(U), the survey showed a clear edge for the former.

The survey gave upto 16 to 24 out of the 40 seats in the state to BJP, while giving JD(U) 7 to 13 seats. The survey gave 6 to 10 seats to Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD and from nil to 4 seats to Congress.

The survey findings said that 63 per cent respondents were satisfied with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's work and 55 per cent felt his government in the state deserved another chance.

In Odisha, if polls were to held now, the BJD with 10 to 16 seats would emerge ahead, with the Congress winning 3 to 9 seats and BJP getting between zero to four seats, the survey predicted.

A huge 70 per cent of the respondents expressed satisfaction with Chief Minister Biju Patnaik's performance.

The survey also revealed that in Bihar, majority of people felt that the Nitish Kumar government was to blame for the security lapse during the Narendra Modi rally.

Another finding was that only 54 per cent of the respondents had heard of AAP across 18 states and overall 3 per cent of the people favoured Arvind Kejriwal as PM.

The survey said that the feedback of 18,951 voters was taken across 1081 locations of 291 parliamentary constituencies.