New Delhi, Three incumbents -- Mamata Banerjee, Sarbananda Sonowal and Pinarayi Vijayan -- enjoy strong approval ratings as their respective states go to the polls.

Of the five states going to the polls, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami is much behind M K Stalin of the DMK as CM choice while N Rangaswamy is leading the race in Puducherry.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata is much ahead of the pack with more than half or 54.5 per cent respondents in the IANS C Voter opinion poll wave 2 saying she is the most suitable candidate for CM. Dilip Ghosh, state BJP President comes second with 24.6 per cent of the vote.

Similarly, Assam CM Sonowal is very popular with 43.3 per cent casting their vote in his favour followed by Gaurav Gogoi of the Congress with 26.4 per cent. Gaurav is the son of former Assam CM Tarun Gogoi who passed away recently.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan is headed for another win as 38.5 per cent respondents favoured him as CM followed by Oommen Chandy of the Congress with 27 per cent.

In Tamil Nadu, M K Stalin of the DMK who has had a long wait to become Chief Minister is the favoured candidate with 39.4 per cent while Chief Minister E Palaniswami may be on his way out with 32.1 per cent giving him the nod. The star studded list in Tamil Nadu includes Sasikala, Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth.

N Rangaswamy backed by the BJP and AIADMK is set to become Puducherry CM with 45.8 per cent favouring him with ousted Congress CM V Narayanasami getting approval of only 38.2 per cent.