The BJP-led NDA alliance is running neck-and-neck with the 'grand alliance' forged by RJD, JD-U and Congress in the Bihar elections, according to the latest India TV-C Voter opinion poll survey.
The National Democratic Alliance is projected to win 109-125 seats, while the Janata Dal-United-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress alliance is projected to win 104-120 seats and 'others' have been projected to win 10-18 seats in the 243-seat assembly, says the poll.
C-Voter, in a press release, said the projections were based on a methodology based on random stratified sample of 7,786 interviews covering all 243 assembly segments during the second and third weeks of September.
"Margin of error is plus/minus three percent at state level and plus/minus five percent at regional level," it said.
On the question of who would be the best chief minister for Bihar, 46.8 percent respondents favoured the present Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, while 16 percent preferred Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushil Modi, 6.7 percent preferred former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and 5.4 percent preferred BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain.
In terms of vote percentage, the Lalu Prasad-Nitish Kumar-Congress combine is projected to win 42 percent votes while the NDA is projected to win 43 percent votes, with 15 percent votes going to others, the survey said.
According to the release, 61.2 percent respondents said they wanted change in the state, while 55.8 percent said the present chief minister should be changed.
"A whopping 72.9 percent respondents were unhappy with their MLAs and wanted change," it said.
According to the release, 58.8 percent respondents felt the NDA can solve their problems in a better manner, while 33.1 percent opted for JD-U-RJD-Congress combine.
Bihar will go for a five-phased election from October 12 to November 5. Votes will be counted November 8.
