NEW DELHI: India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party looks set to form the next government in looming elections while the ruling Congress is headed for its worst-ever defeat, polls published Saturday suggested.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is poised to win between 211 and 231 seats in the 552-seat lower decision-making house of parliament in the elections due by May, according to one opinion poll.
On its own, the BJP, led by fiery hardliner Narendra Modi would win 190-210 seats, said the poll by TV network CNN-IBN in tandem with the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.
While the BJP-led coalition's projected tally is still short of halfway mark required to form the government in the Indian parliament, it is still a major boost from the BJP's present seat tally of 112.
With other potential allies of the BJP also projected to fare well in the elections, the party would hold the whip hand in parliament, the poll suggested.
"BJP poised for best-ever tally, Modi set to be PM, say polls," read a front-page headline in The Times of India, the country's best-selling English-language daily.
The graft-tainted Congress, which has ruled India for the last decade, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, would win just 92 to 108 seats, down from 204 it holds now, the CNN-IBN poll said.
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