New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS): While the BJP led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is still the favourite to win the 2022 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party is gathering steam and the difference between the two parties is narrowing, as per the ABP-CVoter-IANS 5-State Snap Poll.

In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the BJP and its alliance partners are projected to get 217 seats, 108 down from 325 it had won in the 2017 elections.

The five-state snap poll was conducted with a sample size of 1,07,193 across 690 seats with a margin of error of +/- 3% to +/- 5%.

The SP led by former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is rising rapidly in popularity and is now expected to get 156 seats. The battle in UP is now clearly between the BJP and the SP and the gap between the two is narrowing. Interestingly, while the BJP is losing 108 seats, SP is gaining the exact number of seats in UP.

The other two parties -- BSP and Congress -- are slated to get 18 and 8 seats, respectively.

Among the main UP regions, SP is gaining big in Western Uttar Pradesh where it is winning 60 seats while the BJP is winning 66 of the 136 seats in the region.

In Poorvanchal, the BJP is winning 68 seats, while the SP is winning 49 seats of the total 130 seats in the region. In Bundelkhand, the BJP is winning 13 while the SP is winning 5 of the 19 seats. In Avadh region, the BJP is winning 70 seats while the SP is winning 42 of the 118 seats in the region.

In Uttar Pradesh, while the BJP is holding on to its vote share, with just a minor drop of 0.7 per cent at 40.7 per cent, it is losing 108 seats as the SP is gaining vote share by 7.1 per cent to 31.1 per cent.