Congress up in UP,huge loss for BJP

New Delhi: An exit poll conducted for the Marathi newspaper Lokmat Times has
predicted a serious setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh.
The exit poll, conducted in seven Lok Sabha constituencies involving 2,750 voters
during the first phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, which covered 30
parliamentary constituencies, said the BJP would get only 16 of the 25 seats it had
secured last time in this area.
The seven constituencies are Pratapgarh, Etah, Mirzapur, Farrukhabad, Agra, Jhansi
and Kanpur.
According to a Lokmat press release, the Congress is set to win 12 Lok Sabha seats
out of the 30, with one going to its ally, the Rashtriya Lok Dal led by Mr Ajit Singh.
According to the results of the exit poll conducted by the Centre for Media and
Cultural Research, analysed by the Institute for Media Strategies for Lokmat Times
and released here on Sunday, the Samajwadi Party is likely to get only one out these
30 seats against the five it held in the 12th Lok Sabha.
The exit poll found dalit votes were intact with the Bahujan Samaj Party but it would
get no seats as no other community was coming forward to support it.
According to the exit poll, the BJP and its allies were expected to get a vote share of
31 per cent compared to 39 per cent in 1998, while the Congress is likely to increase
its vote share from four to 27 per cent and the Samajwadi Party expected to register
a loss from 30 per cent to 16 per cent.
[An earlier exit poll telecast on Doordarshan on Saturday showed the Congress
making gains in the BJP stronghold states which witnessed polling on Saturday.
But it gave the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies a comfortable overall lead,
saying they were likely to win 191 of the 344 seats for which elections had been held
so far.
[Of the 76 seats for which polling was held on Saturday, the exit poll telecast by
Doordarshan gave the BJP and its allies 46 seats, 21 to the Congress and its allies,
and nine to "others," including the third front parties.
[In an exit poll last Wednesday on the first two phases of the elections for 268
seats, the BJP and its allies had been given 145 seats, and the Congress and its
allies 105 seats.
[But, in the cumulative tally on Saturday, the Congress was shown not only to have
made up for its loss, but as making gains at the cost of the BJP. Of the 344 seats for
which elections have been held so far, the exit poll gave 191 to the BJP and its allies,
126 to the Congress and its allies, and 27 to others.] (PTI,UNI)