Kishor, who had worked for the BJP and a few regional parties in formulating election strategies since 2014, has predicted a BJP victory in opposition-ruled West Bengal, Odisha and even Telangana and the startling prediction that the saffron party could get a double-digit vote share in Tamil Nadu.

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"They (the BJP) will either be first or second in Telangana. They will be number one in Odisha and you will be surprised -- to my mind the BJP is going to be number one in West Bengal,” he told PTI.

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A Congress insider, however, felt the voting pattern and election issues would be vastly different from the BJP's aspirations and Kishor's predictions. The Congress pollster insisted that the BJP would not cross 14 seats in Modi's home state of Gujarat while the party could suffer setbacks in other states as well.

"The BJP candidates are refusing to fight the elections in Gujarat,  while a union minister close to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is under attack from his own party workers for remarks against the Kshatriya community. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP’s numbers will come down drastically because of anti-incumbency and infighting,” he said, requesting anonymity.

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"In Delhi, the BJP will receive a major setback and I believe it could even draw a blank. As for Madhya Pradesh, it may not get more than 16 seats. The BJP will lose seats in Punjab and in Haryana as well and it will not be able to repeat its 2019 performance in Rajasthan or in Chhattisgarh,” he said.

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He also painted a grim picture for the party in Maharashtra, which sends 48 MPs to parliament. “The BJP will not cross 12 seats in Maharashtra because the partners in the ruling front are fighting against each other and there is a trust deficit when it comes to the BJP. This election will show whether people support the split in the Shiv Sena and the NCP,” he said.

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Asked about the Congress’s own assessment of its own show, he said the party could get between 85 to 100 seats.

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"The biggest flaw is that the BJP and the prime minister are not addressing the real issues before the people -- price rise and unemployment -- which are directly affecting the ordinary man. And we also believe its polarisation strategy is unlikely to work as it did before, in the Hindi heartland this time,” he said.

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