India
oi-Madhuri Adnal
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay has emerged as the third-most preferred choice for the next Prime Minister of India, with 9.2% of respondents backing him, according to the latest India Today-CVoter Mood of the Nation (MOTN) opinion poll.
Vijay, who entered politics in 2024 and is now in his first term as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, ranked behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who remained the top choice with 48.7%, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who secured 27.1%.
Tamil Nadu CM C Joseph Vijay ranks third as the preferred choice for India’s next Prime Minister with 9.2% support in the India Today-CVoter MOTN poll, behind PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi, despite entering politics in 2024.
The finding puts Vijay ahead of several established political leaders and comes at a time when his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has begun openly discussing a larger national role for him ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
The India Today-CVoter opinion poll asked respondents who they would prefer as the next Prime Minister of India.
Vijay received 9.2%, putting him in third place nationally.
PM Modi led the list with 48.7%, followed by Rahul Gandhi at 27.1%. Vijay was followed by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee at 2%, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav at 1.7%, Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijit Dipke at 1.3% and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal at 1.2%.
While Vijay is not the overall favourite for the PM’s post, his third-place position is notable given how recently he entered electoral politics.
The poll marks the first time Vijay has featured in the India Today-CVoter poll survey as a PM preference.
His 9.2% score places him among the country’s leading choices despite his political career being only two years old. The result also gives TVK’s push for a national role a wider political context.
Vijay second among Opposition faces
Vijay also performed strongly when respondents were asked which current Opposition leader would be best suited to lead the Opposition alliance INDIA Bloc.
The opinion poll shows that Vijay received 12.2%, placing him second behind Rahul Gandhi, who led with 29%. Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee received 8.5%, Arvind Kejriwal 7.5% and Akhilesh Yadav 6.9%.
For the record, India Today-CVoter Opinion Poll was conducted between July 1 and August 25 on 25,184 respondents. Another 91,795 interviews conducted over the previous six months as part of CVoter’s regular tracking were also used in compiling the findings.
The opinion poll comes shortly after Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leaders has increasingly pushed the idea of projecting him as a potential Prime Minister of India in the 2029 elections, drawing sharp criticism from the Congress.
TVK Minister for Human Resources Management Sarathkumar said in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on August 18 that Vijay would be the next Prime Minister.
A day earlier, Tamil Nadu Public Works Minister and TVK leader Aadhav Arjuna argued that India should eventually have a Prime Minister from the South and said such a leader should emerge from Tamil Nadu. These statements have helped push the idea of a Vijay-led national political role into the public conversation, with the party looking towards the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
Vijay formally entered politics with the launch of TVK in 2024, after years as one of Tamil cinema’s biggest stars. His political rise has been rapid, taking him from the film industry to the leadership of a new political party and then to the Chief Minister’s office.
