Election strategist Prashant Kishor has given an interview to BBC News India in which he admitted that pollsters like him got the Lok Sabha elections wrong, but maintained that Narendra Modi's BJP remain the dominant force in Indian politics.

"Yes, we got it wrong," Kishor said in his first interview after the election results.

"People like me, we got the estimate, of the seats which BJP has won, on that count we have been wrong. But if you hear what we have been telling is that in this election there is no pan-India undercurrent in favour of Mr Modi. That his personal popularity and the intensity of the support for brand Modi has come down.

"There is a significant rural distress, unemployment and growing inequality as a major issue concerning people at large," Kishor said.

"But we also said that despite these things there is no widespread anger against Modi. And this, together with the fact that there is no organised opposition as one would like to see, more or less the status quo would be maintained…."

He admitted that he and the other pollsters were "hugely off" in their estimate, but pointed out that "in terms of vote share BJP has almost got the same as last time".

"Yes, we made a mistake of sensing the status quo reflected in vote share as the seats as well," he said.

He also maintained that the Congress had a long way to go and that Modi remains the most popular leader in India.

He said the new NDA government was more like running a minority government with support than a proper coalition.

Kishor, who was in charge of Modi's 2014 campaign but fell out with the BJP after that, had predicted a massive victory for the BJP.