New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is on a slide, an India Today-ORG MARG opinion poll has said predicting 242-252 seats, short of a simple majority, for the ruling combine in the Lok Sabha, down from 304 in 1999.

Congress and its allies were expected to gain 35-45 seats from the 140 bagged in the last general elections, as per the 'Mood of the Nation Poll'.

Paradoxically, the opinion poll shows that the rating of Atal Behari Vajpayee as "Best Prime Minister" remained a dozen points above Congress president Sonia Gandhi though her popularity has risen six per cent compared to the rise of three per cent for him six months ago.

According to the poll, the public disenchantment with the NDA government aggregated to a 0.43 per cent anti-incumbency swing across the country compared to its actual position in 1999, which has the potential to translate into a loss of at least 57 seats.

The opinion poll says that the disaggregated picture was more alarming for the ruling combine - relative swings of 3.5 per cent in the East, having 142 seats and 2.16 per cent in the North, having the highest number of 151 seats.

The survey, which covered 17,500 respondents spread across 98 Parliamentary constituencies, was carried out between July 28 and August 6.

Apart from stagnancy in terms of votes, the BJP has begun losing ground in its erstwhile stronghold of Uttar Pradesh despite a tie-up with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). It is also trailing in Orissa, Jharkhand, Delhi, Haryana, Assam and in Andhra Pradesh as NDA's regional allies are facing the brunt of public anger.

PTI