Comfortable majority for TMC-Cong alliance in Bengal: Opinion polls

The Trinamool Congress-Congress combine will secure comfortable majority in West Bengal assembly polls, two separate opinion polls projected today.

According to the opinion poll carried out ORG for Headlines Today news channel, the TMC-Congress alliance will win get 182 seats-well above the majority mark of 148--while the incumbent Left Front will get 101 seats, 126 less than the 227 seats it had won in the previous elections in 2006, a statement issued by TV Today said here.

TMC had won 30 seats and Congress 21 in the 2006 elections.

The opinion poll conducted by AC Nielsen for Star Ananda News channel projected TMC-Congress alliance to get two-thirds majority with 215 seats and Left Front 74.

While Headlines Today survey did not give the break-up of seats projected for TMC and Congress and the Left Front, the Star Ananda-AC Nielsen said TMC would secure 170 seats and Congress 45 while CPI(M) 63 seats, CPI (5), Forward Bloc (4) and RSP (2).

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, according to Headlines Today poll, emerged a favourite for the chief minister's post, notching up 48.6 per cent of the sample as against her arch rival and incumbent Buddhadeb Bhattacharya who was favoured by 20 per cent of those surveyed.

The Star Ananda-AC Nielsen survey was conducted in 163 assembly constituencies with a sample size of 29,457 voters between March 24 and April 5.