Nitish Kumar gestures after being as NDA Legislature Party leader.
Credit: PTI Photo
Bihar is all set to witness JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar taking the oath as the Chief Minister of for the 10th time on Thursday, cementing his record of being the longest serving chief minister of the state.
This comes after NDA secured a landslide victory in the recently concluded assembly elections, winning 202 seats in the 243-member assembly, with the BJP bagging 89, JD(U) 85, LJP(RV) 19, HAM 5 and RLM 4.
Since its inception, Bihar has seen 18 elections, 8 President's rule and 24 Chief Ministers. Let's take a look at Bihar's political history.
Currently, Satish Prasad Singh holds the record for having the shortest stint as chief minister. He tenure lasted only for four days - from 28 January 1968 to 1 February 1968.
The record for longest serving chief minister of the state goes to Nitish Kumar as he is been in the top office for more than 18 years now.
The first chief minister of Bihar was Krishna Singh who served the state for more than 13 years - from 15 August 1947 to 31 January 1961. After Krishna Singh, none of the chief ministers could complete a 5-year term until 1990.
But in 1990, Janata Dal came to power with majority and Lalu Prasad completed his term of 5 years and remained CM from 1990 to 1995.
This was the 10th election.
Again from 1995-2000, Bihar resorted to its old ways - chief minister changed, President's rule was imposed. With small blips in-between, Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi almost served for another 5 years - from 11 March 2000 to 6 March 2005.
From 2005, the Nitish era commenced and since then he has nearly always retained his position.
In between, Jitan Ram Manjhhi became the chief minister for 278 days, however, Nitish Kumar once again came to power and has retained his grip on the chief ministerial post since then.