Bengaluru: In an internal assessment by the BJP to which this newspaper is privy, the BJP's survey shows that it could win as many as 22 seats, which is five more than the 17 parliamentary seats it holds, reducing the Congress to a mere four seats and the Janata Dal (S) to one. The results closely match those arrived at by the state intelligence department which sees a BJP sweep.
Going by these early trends, the JD (S) may have to settle for one seat, in all likelihood retaining Hassan while in the four seats of Bengaluru North, Bengaluru Rural, Raichur and Koppal, the Congress could possibly win. The crucial seat of Mandya could go to the independent candidate, Sumalatha Ambareesh.
The BJP has been quick to characterize their findings as "rough" and "early", and "not scientific," given that two weeks remain until the first round of polling. One of the reasons for the BJP's better projections may be because the coalition between the JD (S) and Congress is being steadily undermined by its workers on the ground, which works to the BJP's advantage, and second, due to a strong undercurrent of support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
