Nitish Kumar Confirmed As Bihar Chief Minister After NDA's Historic Win

Nitish Kumar, who has been the chief minister of Bihar for most of the last two decades, has been confirmed for the top post again by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), following its historic win in the recently concluded assembly elections.

The decision, announced on Tuesday, comes after a meeting of NDA legislators. The coalition, which won 202 out of the 243 seats in Bihar, comprises 89 MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party and 85 legislators of the Janata Dal (United). Also, it has 19 MLAs of Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), five of Hindustan Awami Morcha (Secular) and four of Rashtriya Lok Morcha.

This will be Nitish's 10th term as the chief minister of Bihar, having first taken oath back in 2000. Back then, he was part of the Samata Party. The tenure lasted for only seven days as the government could not hold the electoral strength to remain in power.

Later, in 2005, Nitish stormed to power with his party, the JD(U), winning a full majority in alliance with the BJP. The coalition retained power with a stronger mandate in 2010, allowing Nitish to remain at the helm of Bihar government.

In 2013, Nitish severed ties with the BJP, following the projection of Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate, but remained in power with external support from rivals Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress. In the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, his party contested alone and was wiped out. Taking moral responsibility of the rout, he resigned as the chief minister, allowing his then party colleague Jitan Ram Manjhi to take over the reigns.

Manjhi's tenure as the CM lasted for around a year, as Nitish was back as the CM ahead of the 2015 polls, and had stitched the Mahagathbandhan coalition with the RJD and Congress. The alliance won the elections and Nitish was again sworn-in as the CM.

In 2017, Nitish severed ties with the Mahagathbandhan, and dissolved his government. Immediately, he re-aligned with the BJP to take oath as the CM again. In 2020, the NDA won a simple majority. Although the JD(U)'s tally was trimmed to 43, and the BJP's count increased to 74, the coalition decided to retain Nitish as the chief minister following the elections.

In 2022, Nitish dissolved the government again, as he snapped ties with the BJP and re-aligned with RJD and Congress. Immediately, he took oath as the CM again with support from the erstwhile rivals. This government lasted barely 17 months, as Nitish again severed ties with the Mahagathbandhan, and re-aligned with the BJP in early 2024. He was subsequently again sworn-in as the CM.

Nitish, 74, was labelled as a spent force by critics ahead of the Bihar assembly elections 2025. His former top aide-turned-rival Prashant Kishor had projected the JD(U) to be restricted to below 25 seats. However, much to the surprise of pollsters, Nitish's party nearly doubled its tally to 85 seats, as compared to 43 it won in 2020.