Warning bells for Nitish Kumar? Survey shows growing clamour for BJP to project own CM face in Bihar elections

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. (File:PTI)

More than a third of voters in Bihar cutting across caste lines believe that the Bharatiya Janata Party should declare its own chief ministerial face instead of contesting the upcoming Bihar elections under the banner of incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a survey has found.

As many as 33.7 percent of respondents strongly believe that the BJP should declare its CM face for the Bihar polls as compared to 24.2 percent who believe NDA should contest elections under his leadership since he has done good work while 23.1 percent see Nitish's projection as more of a compulsion since the BJP does not have a choice, as per the 'State Vibe Survey of Bihar elections 2025 (Caste-Community Wise Voting)'.

A caste-wise break up of the survey findings shows the demand for a BJP CM face highest among Other Backward Classes (OBCs) at 38 percent followed by upper caste Hindus at 36 percent, Scheduled Caste/Dalits at 30 percent, Scheduled Tribes at 29 percent and Muslims at 26 percent.

Notably, OBCs account for 27.12 percent of Bihar's 13.07-crore population while EBCs form the largest caste group accounting for 36.01 percent. General category voters account for 15.52 percent, Scheduled Caste voters 19.65 percent while Scheduled Tribes account for 1.68 percent.

Yadavs, traditionally aligned with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, form the largest caste group within the OBC category, comprising 14.26 percent of the state's population.

The findings of the survey also reveal an even spread across all caste lines in terms of respondents who believe that the BJP should continue with Nitish Kumar as the CM face only because it does not have any other options.

As per the findings, 21 percent STs and OBCs, 26 percent SCs and Upper Class Hindus, and 24 percent of the Muslim respondents see Nitish as a chief ministerial face as a compulsion for the BJP.

On the other hand, 38 percent of STs, 27 percent of SC and Muslims, 24 percent of upper class Hindus and 21 percent of OBCs see Nitish as the chief ministerial face since he has done good work.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, however, continues to maintain pole position as the most popular face people want to see as the chief minister. As per the survey, 32.1 percent of the respondents wish to see Tejashwi as the next Bihar CM followed by 25 percent who polled in Nitish's favour.

At 31.1 percent, Nitish remains popular choice among upper caste Hindus while a resounding 50 percent of Muslims have backed Tejashwi as their chief ministerial face.

The survey also sheds some light on the people's perception of law and order in Bihar under Nitish's rule. As per the findings, 28.7 percent of the respondents see an improvement in the law and order situation under Nitish as CM, an equal number of respondents (28.5%) see no change in scenario while a relatively higher number of respondents (34.2%) believe that the situation has deteriorated under the incumbent CM.

On the question of which party or alliance people trust for the overall development of Bihar, the survey showed a slight edge to the Mahagathbandhan with 36.1 percent of respondents polling in its favour against 35.4 percent who said they trusted the NDA.

Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraj received 10 percent votes in its favour in the same question. Kishor also polled higher than Union minister Chirag Paswan of the LJP(RV) and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary of the BJP on the question of people's choice as the next Bihar CM with 12.4 percent of the respondents voting for him.

Overall, 48.5 percent respondents to the survey said they believed there was a strong anti-incumbency sentiment against the ruling alliance while only 18.3 percent polled in favour of strong pro-incumbency. While 22.5 percent said they were neutral, 10.7 percent of the respondents were undecided.