PM still going strong, NDA likely to win 326 seats if polls held today: MOTN

The BJP-led NDA remains firmly in the driver's seat, and is expected to retain power with a comfortable majority of 326 seats if Lok Sabha elections are held today, as per the MOTN survey. However, its numbers have slipped from the previous survey.PM Modi at a parliamentary meeting with NDA leadersThe BJP-led NDA remains well placed to retain power if Lok Sabha elections are held today, but its popularity appears to be showing signs of wear, according to the latest India Today-CVoter Mood of the Nation survey. Now in its 12th year, the NDA is likely to win 326 seats if elections are held today - a decline of 26 seats from the previous MOTN survey in January, which predicted 352 seats.While it may be a far cry from the '400 paar' slogan given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the 2024 election campaign, the numbers show that the trust of the voters in the NDA is intact as it faces a challenge in tackling the Gen Z factor ahead of 2029.Consequently, the INDIA bloc's tally is unlikely to see any substantial gains as compared to the January MOTN survey. While the latest poll predicts 185 seats for the Congress-led alliance, the January 2026 survey projected 182 seats. It marks a major drop from the 234 seats the INDIA bloc won in 2024 - the closest the opposition came to challenging the NDA since 2014. The Mood of the Nation is a bi-annual survey that's been commissioned by the India Today Group for around two decades now. The August 2026 edition was conducted by CVoter with a sample of 25,184 people directly surveyed between July 1 and August 25. Another set of 91,795 interviews conducted over the last six months as part of CVoter's regular tracking was also used to formulate the findings of the August 2026 MOTN.A party-wise breakdown shows an interesting facet. The August 2026 MOTN has predicted 261 seats for the BJP if elections are held today. Just six months ago, the survey projected 287 seats - comfortably above the 272 magic number. It implies a modest erosion in support for the BJP.The numbers are promising for the Congress. As per the latest poll, the party is expected to win 106 seats - a sharp rise from the 80 seats forecast in the January edition.- EndsPublished By: Shipra ParasharPublished On: Aug 27, 2026 18:06 IST