A survey by The Week magazine has predicted that the NDA will win in 197 seats, the UPA in 184 seats while other parties will get a total of 162 seats in the Lok Sabha polls next year.
As per the survey, whose sample size was not given, the UPA’s vote share will come down to 31.7 per cent from 37.2 per cent in 2009 Lok Sabha polls while the NDA’s vote share will go up from 23.3 per cent to 26.7 per cent in the general election next year.
The vote share of other parties which was 39.5 per cent in 2009 will go up to 41.6 per cent.
The survey said 32 per cent of the respondents felt Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will be the best Prime Minister followed by Manmohan Singh (15 per cent) and Rahul Gandhi (13 per cent).
Eight per cent of the respondents opined that Sonia Gandhi would be the best Prime Minister while 5 per cent each supported Mayawati and L.K. Advani for the top job followed by Mulayam Singh Yadav (4 per cent), Nitish Kumar (3 per cent) and Mamata Banerjee (3 per cent).
On who will be the best person for the post of Prime Minister among the BJP, the survey said 56 per cent supported Mr. Modi while Mr. Advani got support of 15 per cent followed by Sushma Swaraj (10 per cent), Rajnath Singh (4 per cent) and Nitin Gadkari (3 per cent).
Among the Congress leaders, 39 per cent of those surveyed felt Mr. Rahul Gandhi will be best person for the top job while 25 per cent supported Mr. Singh and 18 per cent supported Sonia Gandhi. Five per cent of those surveyed supported P. Chidambaram as Prime Minister while three per cent supported A.K. Antony.
Asked if Third Front leads the government then who will best suited for the job, 19 per cent supported Mr. Kumar while Ms. Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee got support of 14 per cent of those surveyed.
Sixty per cent of those surveyed said political parties and alliances should announce their PM candidate well in advance while 26 per cent thought otherwise.
Seventy four per cent respondents felt elections should be held in May 2014 as per schedule while 19 per cent said polls would be held early.
Asked about the crucial issues, 21 per cent said uplift of poor while 17 per cent were of the view that providing basic facilities like water, electricity and roads will be the main issue. Thirteen per cent felt price rise will be another key issue.
