Modi will scrape through in Gujarat, surveys predict

Dec 16, 2007, 17:54 GMT

New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS) Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to win the state assembly elections that concluded Sunday, albeit with less seats compared to 2002, exit polls carried out by TV news channels predicted.

The private news channel CNN-IBN projected 92-100 seats for the BJP, giving 77-85 seats for the Congress and 3-7 seats for others in a house of 182 members.

In the December 2002 elections, held in the aftermath of the communal violence that year, the BJP had won a record 127 seats, while the Congress could manage only 51.

According to a survey conducted by the TV channel NDTV 24x7, the BJP was set to win 90 to 110 seats, while the Congress was tipped to win between 70 and 95 seats and others 3-5 seats.

Voters in 95 constituencies in north and central Gujarat exercised their franchise Sunday, while polling was held in 87 constituencies in Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat in the first phase Tuesday.

CNN-IBN, which spoke with 9,000 voters, said the BJP was set to repeat the strong performance it had shown in north Gujarat in 2002 and would have an upper hand in central Gujarat, but the Congress was set to gain in south Gujarat and sweep Saurashtra - the hub of BJP dissidents unhappy with Modi.

NDTV 24x7, whose survey had a sample size of 18,122 respondents, said that the BJP was set to win between 55 to 65 seats in the second phase against 73 in 2002. The Congress was seen as winning 30 to 40 seats in Sunday's phase against 21 in 2002.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service