Jharkhand exit poll: Hemant Soren most preferred CM; Raghubar Das trails

Ranchi, Dec 21: Hemant Soren, the working president of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is the most preferred candidate to be the chief minister of Jharkhand.

In the exit poll conducted by India Today-Axis My India, 29 per cent of the voters favoured Hemant Soren as their chief ministerial candidate, while incumbent Chief Minister Raghubar Das has got 26 per cent votes. Former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) chief, stood at third position with 10 per cent votes.

The India Today-Axis MyIndia exit poll predicts 22-32 for BJP, 38-50 for JMM Congress, 2-4 for JVM, 3-5 for the AJSU while 4-7 would be bagged by the rest.

The BJP is likely to be unseated in Jharkhand. Three major exit polls that were out on Friday have predicted gains for the JMM-Congress. The Jharkhand assembly has 81 seats and the magic number is 41.

In the 2014 polls, the BJP won 37 while the Congress got 6 seats. The rest was shared by the state parties.

The opposition alliance of Congress, JMM and RJD have projected Hemant Soren as its chief ministerial candidate. The state went to poll in five phases starting from November 30.

Counting of votes is scheduled on 23 December.