Ruling coalition will sweep snap polls, says survey

India's ruling coalition would sweep to a landslide win if snap polls were held now, a survey has revealed.

The coalition, in power for almost three years, is led by the Congress Party and popular support for both remained strong.

The survey, by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies for the Hindustan Times and CNN–IBN television channel, said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) could secure a clear majority and shed its dependence on leftist coalition partners.

"The Indian electorate continues to have confidence in the ruling UPA coalition," the survey said. "In fact, the ruling coalition is placed better than it was in 2004."

The survey comes as India's economy has been growing at around 8 percent over the past three years, but the government has faced pressure from leftist coalition parties to tone down its market–friendly reforms.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also popular because of his clean and moderate image.

The survey said the coalition could gain 300 seats, compared to the 222 seats it won in May 2004 when it swept to power in a shock election win over the Hindu–nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party–led (BJP) coalition.

But the newspaper said the surge in popularity of the Congress Party appeared to have hit a plateau. The previous two rounds of the survey, which is held every six months, had shown an upward trend for the Congress and its allies.

State elections will take place over the next two months, and the next general election is expected in 2009.

The "State of the Nation" survey, conducted in the second week of January, is based on interviews with 15,373 people in 970 cities and villages in 21 of India's 29 states.

The survey showed the BJP–led opposition coalition, which has suffered internal divisions and a leadership crisis, was losing support and if polls were held now, it would win 115 seats, down from 189 in 2004.

Italian–born Congress Party president Ms. Sonia Gandhi was the most popular choice for prime minister, followed by the BJP's former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, and in third place, current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.