Hung assembly likely in Maharashtra, Haryana: Poll

MUMBAI: Maharashtra and Haryana are both likely to end up with hung assemblies, according to an opinion poll done for two television channels. The poll has predicted that BJP is likely to emerge as the frontrunner in both the states, winning around a third of the seats in each.

The poll, done by CVoter for NewsX and India TV, predicted that BJP would win 93 of the 288 seats in Maharashtra, followed by Shiv Sena with 59, NCP with 47, Congress 40 and MNS 27. Smaller parties and independents would win the remaining 22 seats, it projected. If this scenario were to come true, BJP would be best placed to form a government with the support of either the Sena, which is yet to walk out of the NDA at the Centre, or NCP and MNS, though both have denied such a possibility.

In Haryana, the poll has predicted that BJP would win 33 of the 90 seats, Om Prakash Chautala's INLD would finish a close second with 28 and the Congress a distant third with 16. The alliance formed between Kuldeep Bishnoi's Haryana Janhit Congress and Venod Sharma's Haryana Janchetna Party would win nine seats and others four, the poll estimated. With 46 needed for a majority, such an outcome would appear to make a BJP-INLD combination almost necessary to form a government.