The poll, conducted across 23 states with a sample size of 18,000 voters, predicts that the UPA will win 267 seats as against the 222 seats it secured in the 2004 elections. Any party or coalition requires 272 seats to secure a majority in the Lok Sabha.

The Left parties, which secured 60 seats in the previous elections, will see a decline in its tally as it will garner only 43 seats. The NDA will have to be content with 133 seats as against 189 in the last election, according to the poll conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies for CNN-IBN in association with The Indian Express.

However, the survey underlined that the UPA's numbers had, in fact, gone down compared to the results of the poll conducted in January, which had predicted that the ruling coalition will sweep the elections by winning 300 seats.

On the other hand, the NDA will improve its performance from 115 seats in Januray to 133 in case of snap polls.

Interestingly, 64 per cent respondents, including a representative sample from rural India, had not even heard of the India-United States nuclear deal and the current crisis between the UPA and the Left Front.

The survey also suggests that people believe inflation and condition of farmers will become the main issue in mid-term elections.

The poll also suggests a scathing indictment of the ruling UPA coalition on the handling of terrorism, corruption and inflation. While 44 per cent respondents felt that dealing with terrorism had deteriorated under the UPA regime, 49 per cent felt corruption had worsened.

The poll also suggested that 56 per cent of respondents, who supported UPA, wanted Congress President Sonia Gandhi [Images] to be the Prime Minster.