New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS): The three-phase Bihar Assembly polls will be the first large-scale election in the country amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and as per the IANS C-Voter Bihar opinion poll survey, 30.9 per cent of the people are still backing Nitish Kumar as the most preferable candidate to be the Chief Minister again.

Nitish Kumar is followed by Rashtriya Janta Dal leader Tejasvi Yadav, who is the preferred CM candidate of 15.4 per cent people, followed by BJP leader Sushil Modi (9.2 per cent).

Surprisingly, RJD supremo and ex-Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad, who is convicted in the fodder scam and is barred from contesting the polls, is considered the most preferable candidate to be the Chief Minister by 8.3 per cent of the voters.

Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan has been preferred as a CM candidate by 6.5 per cent of the people.

Bihar Congress leader Tariq Anwar has received the approval for the CM's post from 2.1 per cent of the people, the lowest among the prominent leaders in the state.

BJP leader Giriraj Singh has been backed as a CM candidate by 6.2 per cent of the people, followed by Lok Samta Party leader Upendra Kushwaha (5.1 per cent).

The sample size of the survey is 25,789 and the period of the survey is September 1 to September 25. The survey covers all 243 Assembly segments and the margin of error is +/- 3 per cent at state level and +/-5 per cent at regional level.