Popularity poll places Tejashwi Yadav ahead of CM Nitish Kumar

For the C-voters in Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav ranked ahead of Nitish Kumar for the post of Bihar Chief Minister, as per an opinion poll conducted by C-Voter.

Nitish Kumar’s political game will go down in the history of Bihar. The chief minister, who was sworn-in to the top post for eighth time on Wednesday, dumped the Bharatiya Janata Party and re-entered the Mahagathbandhan. But who has benefitted the most from this political upheaval in Bihar? It is RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, as per an opinion poll conducted by C-Voter.

As Janata Dal (United) broke off ties with the NDA in Bihar, questions over the ramification of such a decision, of the choice of next chief minister, and over Tejashwi Yadav’s decision to join ties with Nitish Kumar were at the top of everyone’s mind. India Today conducted a survey in association with C-Voter in Bihar to find answers to the above questions.

The biggest question in the survey was about the choice of the next chief minister. Tejashwi Yadav ranked ahead of Nitish Kumar or any BJP leader as people’s choice for Bihar CM.

Though Tejashwi Yadav has been sworn in as deputy chief minister in Nitish Kumar-led government, 43 per cent of the respondents in the C-Voter's opinion polls favoured the RJD leader as the next Bihar Chief Minister. In comparison, Nitish Kumar was first choice as CM for only 24 per cent of those surveyed. Meanwhile, 19 per cent chose a BJP leader as Bihar CM.

The surge in Tejashwi’s popularity and the corresponding drop in Nitish Kumar’s popularity is perhaps a warning sign for the Bihar CM.

Here again, Tejashwi Yadav took an apparent lead. The RJD leader’s popularity has seen a jump across all sections of society. In the survey, 41.8 percent men chose Tejashwi Yadav for CM’s post, while 23.8 per cent votes went in Nitish's account. The BJP managed to get 19.6 per cent votes.

Nitish Kumar also witnessed a decline in popularity among women, the community that backed him in 2020.