Mr Vajpayee wants to cash in on the "feel good" factor

Pramod Mahajan said BJP leaders would meet on Sunday and Monday to urge Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to dissolve parliament and go to the polls.

Mr Vajpayee wants early elections to cash in on a good economic outlook and improved relations with Pakistan.

Mr Mahajan said the election could be "completed by March end" if the process started by early February.

He said the poll date would have to be approved by the Election Commission, an autonomous body.

"If dissolution comes by end of January or first week of February, elections can be announced by February 15, and the process can be completed by March end," he told the Associated Press.

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani told Reuters news agency he was confident voters in the world's largest democracy would renew Mr Vajpayee's five-year mandate.

"I have no doubt about (that)," he said. "Our government has given rise to a new climate in the country.

"The 21st Century is certainly going to be India's century."

'Feel good factor'

The BJP and its allies are hoping to translate a series of recent political and economic triumphs into an election victory.

The prime minister has just concluded successful talks with India's long-time rival Pakistan.

And the party is also hoping to continue the momentum it gained in key state election victories last month.

But BBC News Online's Sanjoy Majumder, in Delhi, says that perhaps the biggest incentive for early elections is India's booming economy.

With foreign exchange reserves of more than $100bn, a rising stock market index and an economic growth rate of about 8%, the Vajpayee government wants to tap into what is being described as the "feel good" factor.