New Delhi: An opinion poll conducted by Star News has given the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) a tally of between 270 and 286 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alone accounting for over 200.

According to the poll done on a sample of 12,000 voters in 120 constituencies across 21 States between April 10 and 16, Congress-led alliance may win only 154-170 seats, bettering its previous performance but not enough to bring it to power, the Star News said in a release.

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Political Parties in India

While BJP alone is likely to win over 200 seats in Lok Sabha, "the coalition could fall short of a majority due to poor performance by its allies", it said. The allies include Telugu Desam Party, JD-U, AIADMK and Nationalist Trinamool Congress.

The release said "a marginal shift in voter mood just before polling too could swing fortunes".

The opinion poll said the NDA was "set to sweep" Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. The ruling alliance is projected to win 27 of 29 seats in MP, 23 of 26 seats in Gujarat, 21 of 25 in Rajasthan, all 11 seats in Chhattisgarh and 21 of 28 in Karnataka.

The BJP is projected to marginally improve its tally in Uttar Pradesh getting 30 of the 80 seats, compared with 27 in the 1999 polls, according to the opinion poll.

However, the NDA could lower its tally of 30 seats in Bihar to 24, with RJD-led alliance improving on its nine seats in the previous elections to 14, the release said, adding that it would face a reverse in Andhra Pradesh as also in Maharashtra where BJP-Shiv Sena would get 19 and Congress-NCP 27 out of the 48 seats.

Projecting that non-NDA, non-Congress parties were expected to pick up between 95 and 111 seats, the poll said in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party is estimated to get 30 seats in place of 24 earlier.

The Left Front in West Bengal would capture 33 of the 42 seats, with NDA projected to get only seven and Congress two, the Star News-C-Voter poll said.