BJP to be single largest party in 2014: Survey ‘Regional Allies Will Hold Key To 272-Mark’

The BJP looks set to emerge as the single largest party in 2014 with 162 seats, far ahead of the Congress tally of 102. But even with its allies, the BJP looks likely to be well short of a majority, leaving several regional players holding the key to power in New Delhi.      The NDA is projected to get 186 and the UPA just 117, which leaves 240 seats with others. Some of the biggest among them are mutually incompatible like the Trinamool and the Left Front or the SP and the BSP. That could make government formation an extremely complicated exercise come May next year.      These are the major findings of the latest Times Now-CVoter survey, which suggests that the majority mark of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha will be a far cry for any pre-election formation.      Among the "other" parties, Left Front is projected to get the largest number, 32 seats, followed by BSP with 31 and AIADMK with 28 seats. SP and Trinamool are expected to bag 25 and 23 seats respectively. The split with the BJP seems to have hurt the JD(U), which is predicted to see its tally crash from 20 in 2009 to just nine.