Bihar Election 2025: Opinion poll shows edge for NDA over Mahagathbandhan, but Nitish Kumar not top choice as CM

RJD's Tejashwi Yadav has emerged as the top choice as Bihar CM, a fresh opinion poll has shown. (File/PTI)

The National Democratic Alliance led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is ahead of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan in Bihar with women firmly backing the ruling alliance as their top choice to form a government in the state where elections are scheduled to be held in October-November this year, a new opinion poll released by InkInsight earlier this May has shown.

As per the survey, JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar is the top choice as chief minister among women with 45 percent of the women surveyed saying they wish to see Nitish return to the top post. On the contrary, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has emerged as the top choice among the youth with 42 percent of people surveyed in the 18-29 age group preferring him over Nitish as the next CM.

However, the NDA remains the top choice among youth with around 44.6 percent of those surveyed in the 18-29 years age-group saying they would vote for the NDA, while 39.5 percent said they would prefer to see the Mahagathbandhan in power. Only 0.76 percent said they will vote for Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraj Party.

Among women, the NDA remains the top choice to form a government for another term in the state with 60.4 percent claiming they would prefer to vote for the ruling alliance as compared to 28.4 percent siding with the Mahagathbandhan.

As many as 39 percent of the people surveyed in the opinion poll said they wish to see Tejashwi Yadav as the Bihar CM as compared to 34 percent who said they would prefer Nitish Kumar on the post.

This is the second opinion poll to have placed RJD's Tejashwi Yadav as the top choice as CM. An earlier pre-poll survey by C-Voter showed Tejashwi Yadav as the top choice as CM with Prashant Kishor emerging on the second spot followed by Nitish Kumar.

As per the survey, Tejashwi Yadav remains the top choice as CM among people surveyed in the age-groups of 30-39 years and those aged above 60 years. Nitish Kumar, on the other hand, is the top choice among voters surveyed in the 40-49 years and 50-59 years (Nitish Kumar) age group.

Interestingly, a majority of the men (45.8 percent) said they would prefer Tejashwi Yadav as the CM.

The Bihar elections, slated to be held in October-November this year, will see the BJP-JDU led NDA combine take on the Mahagathbandhan of the RJD-Congress. The Election Commission of India is in the process of reviewing the preparedness of the polls and is yet to announce the dates for the elections.