Patna: As Bihar braces for a politically charged assembly election, a new C-Voter opinion poll has thrown up an unexpected shift in public preference for the chief minister’s post. RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav leads the race, while political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor has emerged as the second most popular choice, pushing sitting CM Nitish Kumar to third place.
According to the survey, 36% of respondents named Tejashwi as their preferred candidate to lead the state. Prashant Kishor, founder of Jan Suraaj, garnered 17% support, a significant development given he has not formally aligned with any major alliance. Meanwhile, JD(U) leader and current Chief Minister Nitish Kumar received 15% support, signaling a decline in his popularity.
The BJP’s Samrat Choudhary and LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan followed with 13% and 6% support respectively.
The findings have stirred fresh political buzz in Patna, especially at a time when both the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the INDIA bloc are locked in intense negotiations over seat-sharing and leadership projections. The poll also highlights a decline of 3 to 5 percentage points in the popularity of both Nitish and Tejashwi, even as Kishor, Choudhary, and Paswan registered gains of 2 to 5 percentage points.
Prashant Kishor’s rise is particularly notable, marking a potential wildcard entry into Bihar’s leadership narrative. His grassroots outreach through the Jan Suraaj campaign has evidently resonated with a segment of the electorate.
