Saturday, January 29 2005 19:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: An Opinion Poll by 'Star News-The Telegraph-AC Nielsen' has projected that the ruling RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) alliance in Bihar may fall just short of a majority while BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and INLD (Indian National Lok Dal) will be voted out of power in Jharkhand and Haryana respectively.

It projected LJP (Lok Janshakti Party) leader Ram Vilas Paswan as the "most popular candidate" for the post of Chief Minister in Bihar.

The survey projected a simple majority for the Congress-JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) alliance in Jharkhand and said INLD is set to get only 17 seats in the 90-member House in Haryana.

The poll said in Bihar RJD with its Left allies may win only 96 seats, which is 26 short of the majority figure of 122 in the 243-member House, while Congress, contesting on its own, may win 20 seats.

While BJP-JDU (Janata Dal United) is likely to win 85 seats, the Lok Janshakti Party is likely to get 27 seats. 15 seats could go into the kitty of smaller parties, it said.

While only 35 per cent of the respondents were in favour of another term to Rabri Devi Government, 53 per cent were against it.

For the post of Chief Minister, 24 per cent of the respondents favoured Paswan while 22 per cent chose Laloo and only 18 per cent the incumbent Rabri Devi. 19 per cent preferred JDU leader Nitish Kumar.

The opinion poll on the Assembly elections in Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana was conducted across 158 constituencies with a sample size of 32,000 between January 18 and 24, a press release issued by Star News said today.