Nitish Kumar vs. Tejashwi Yadav vs Prashant Kishor - Who's likely to be the next Bihar cm? C-Voter recording unveiled | Mint

With about six months left for the Bihar meeting election, a survey conducted by C voter, which detects the election trends, revealed that the JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar is not the best choice for the next Bihar election. Nitish Kumar is Bihar’s longest serving minister and has upheld this position over the past ten years. If Nitish Kumar is in third place, who is the candidate most preferred for the Bihar CM post? The C-Voter recording, obtained by Mint, suggested that the leader of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Tejashwi Yadav is the most preferred candidate as the next Chief Minister of Bihar. Meanwhile, analyst-ridden politician Prashant Kishor took second place in the rankings. Kishor recently launched his party Jan Suraaj. He said this party would dispute the Bihar election for the first time, and also at all 243 meetings. In fourth place was the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and BJP leader Samrat Chaudhary. Another Bihar and the ally of BJP, Chirag Paswan, was the fifth popular candidate for the Bihar CM post. Whose popularity dropped, who got? According to the C-Voter recording, the popularity of Nitish Kumar fell 3 percent-from 18 percent in February 2025 to 15 percent in April. Although Tejashwi Yadav emerged as the first choice for the Bihar CM post, its popularity in April dropped from 40.6 percent to 35.5 percent. Meanwhile, Prashant Kishor’s rose by about two percent – from 14.9 percent to 17.2 percent. Nitish Kumar vs. Tejashwi Yadav vs Prashant Kishor: Why this change in popularity? In an interview with News branch, Yashwant Deshmukh, founder of the C-Voter, analyzed the change in the popularity of the three key leaders in the upcoming Bihar election and explained the factors that contributed to the change. A. Nitish Kumar Yashwant Deshmukh said there was a ‘tooth’ in Nitish Kumar’s ‘all popularity’. He listed these factors that led to the decline in its popularity as Bihar cm: 1. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), of which the JD (U) of Nitish Kumar is part, did not announced a cm face. This is perhaps one of the reasons why the names of BJP’s Samrat Chaudhary and LJP’s Chirag Paswan emerged. The BJP, the JD (U) and the LJP will dispute the Bihar polls in an alliance. 2. People are concerned about his health 3. “Pendulumwings” by Nitish Kumar over the past ten years may have been given a hit at Nitish Kumar’s “credibility and popularity”. Kumar has switched alliance five times over the past ten years. Deshmukh said Nitish Kumar used to get support on party lines, but that is not the case now. 4. Deshmukh said people are not ‘personally upset’ with Nitish Kumar or the NDA government in Bihar. But Nitish Kumar’s ‘absence’ and his health created ‘passivity’ among voters, he said. B. Tejashwi Yadav C-Voter-Founder Yashwant Deshmukh attributes the decline in Tjashwi Yadav’s popularity to the ‘Congress’ aggression’. He noted that the RJD has not yet used a complete election campaign. Deshmukh said Congress should not be completely wiped out in Bihar. C. Prashant Kishor Deshmukh said Prashant Kishor utilized the ‘vacuum’ created by Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav. However, he noted that this popularity may not necessarily mean an increase in votes (or voice conversion) and winning seats. He believes that the Jan Suraaj of Kishor ‘will have no shortage of candidates.’ He said those who do not get election cards from any of the alliances (NDA or India) can go to Kishor’s team. The election for all 243 seats in the Bihar meeting will be held in October-November this year. The Electoral Commission is first published: 17 Apr 2025, 01:29 pm ist