Informing reporters that various poll-related issues would be discussed at the two-day Bharatiya Janata Party national executive, scheduled to open in New Delhi from May 1, he said both the party and the Union Cabinet was in favour of polls by June.

If the elections were not held in the next two months, they would have to be put off till winter since the monsoons, which began in June-end and continued till September, led to flooding in parts of the country, said Rana.

A delay would affect the economy also, he said, adding that government functioning, too, would be affected, since schemes scheduled to be executed in the near future would have to be shelved. This would only inconvenience the populace, he said. About his party's prospects in the elections, Rana said the BJP and its allies would certainly improve on their previous record.

``Even Gujarat will give us more than 19 MPs this time'', he said, predicting that the party would sweep the November assembly polls in four States and the March 2000 elections in five others.

About other parties, he said ``lobbies backed by Sonia Gandhi, Jayalalitha and Laloo Prasad Yadav will receive shock treatment from the voters. The electorate will dent the political careers of regionalist-minded individuals and parties.'' The people of the country fully backed the Vajpayee-led BJP government, he claimed.