List of chief ministers of Bihar facts for kids

The Chief Minister of Bihar is like the main leader of the state government in Bihar, India. Think of them as the captain of the state's team! While the Governor of Bihar is the official head, the Chief Minister is the one who actually runs things day-to-day.

After elections for the Bihar Legislative Assembly (which is like the state's parliament), the Governor usually asks the party or group of parties that won the most seats to form the government. The Governor then appoints the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister and their team of ministers work together and are responsible to the assembly. As long as they have the support of the assembly, the Chief Minister serves for five years. There's no limit to how many times someone can be Chief Minister!

Since 1946, 23 different people have held this important position in Bihar. The person currently serving as Chief Minister is Nitish Kumar, who has been in office since February 22, 2015. He is also the longest-serving Chief Minister of Bihar.

Early Leaders of Bihar

Before India became fully independent and adopted its Constitution in 1950, Bihar was a province. From 1937 to 1947, the head of the government in Bihar was called the "Premier." This was similar to what a Chief Minister does today.

Bihar and Jharkhand were once part of the same province. On April 1, 1936, Bihar and Orissa became separate provinces. Under a law called the Government of India Act 1935, Bihar set up a two-part legislature: a legislative assembly and a legislative council. The government was led by the Premier.

The first Premier of Bihar was Mohammad Yunus, who served briefly in 1937. After him, Shri Krishna Sinha became Premier and served for a long time, both before and after India's independence.

Chief Ministers of Bihar: A Look at the Leaders

This section helps you understand the different leaders who have served as Chief Minister of Bihar.

Understanding the Table Colors

The colors in the table below show which political party each Chief Minister belonged to:      Indian National Congress      Janata Dal (United)      Rashtriya Janata Dal      Janata Dal      Samata Party      Socialist Party      Indian National Congress (O)      N/A (President's rule)

• No.: This is the number of the Chief Minister in order.
• Assassinated or died in office
• Resigned
• Resigned following a no-confidence motion

#	Portrait		Chief Minister (Lifespan) Constituency	Term of office			Election (Term)	Party	Deputy Chief Minister(s) (Term in office)	Government	Appointed by (Governor)
1			Shri Krishna Sinha (1887–1961) Member, Interim Assembly (until 1952) MLA for Basantpur (1952–1957) MLA Sheikhpura (from 1957)	15 August 1947	31 January 1961	13 years, 169 days	1946 (Interim)	Indian National Congress	Anugrah Narayan Sinha (26 Jan. 1950 – 5 Jul. 1957) Position vacant (5 Jul. 1957 – 31 Jan. 1961)	Shri Krishna I	Jairamdas Daulatram
							1952 (1st)			Shri Krishna II	Madhav Shrihari Aney
							1957 (3rd)			Shri Krishna III	R. R. Diwakar
2			Deep Narayan Singh (1894–1977) MLA for Hajipur	1 February 1961	18 February 1961	17 days			Position vacant (31 Jan. 1961 – 5 Mar. 1967)	Deep Narayan	Zakir Husain
3			Binodanand Jha (1900–1971) MLA for Rajmahal	18 February 1961	2 October 1963	2 years, 226 days				Jha I
							1962 (3rd)			Jha II
4			Krishna Ballabh Sahay (1898–1974) MLA for Patna West	2 October 1963	5 March 1967	3 years, 154 days				Sahay	M. A. Ayyangar
5			Mahamaya Prasad Sinha (1909–1987) MLA for Patna West	5 March 1967	28 January 1968	329 days	1967 (4th)	Jana Kranti Dal	Karpoori Thakur (5 Mar. 1967 – 28 Jan. 1968)	Mahamaya
6			Satish Prasad Singh (1936–2020) MLA for Parbatta	28 January 1968	1 February 1968	4 days		Shoshit Dal	Jagdeo Prasad (28 Jan. 1968 – 1 Feb. 1968)	Satish Prasad	Nityanand Kanungo
7			B. P. Mandal (1918–1982) MLC	1 February 1968	22 March 1968	50 days			Position vacant (1 Feb. 1968 – 29 Jun. 1968)	Mandal
8			Bhola Paswan Shastri (1914–1984) MLA for Korha	22 March 1968	29 June 1968	99 days		Indian National Congress		Shastri I
President's rule was imposed in during the period (29 June 1968 – 26 February 1969)
9			Harihar Singh (1925–1994) MLA for Nayagram	26 February 1969	22 June 1969	116 days	1969 (5th)	Indian National Congress	Position vacant (26 Feb. 1969 – 4 Jul. 1969)	Harihar	Nityanand Kanungo
(8)			Bhola Paswan Shastri (1914–1984) MLA for Korha	22 June 1969	4 July 1969	12 days		Indian National Congress (O)		Shastri II
President's rule was imposed in during the period (6 July 1969 – 16 February 1970)
10			Daroga Prasad Rai (1922–1981) MLA for Parsa	16 February 1970	22 December 1970	309 days	– (5th)	Indian National Congress (R)	Position vacant (16 Feb. 1970 – 2 Jun. 1971)	Rai	Nityanand Kanungo
11			Karpoori Thakur (1924–1988) MLA for Samastipur	22 December 1970	2 June 1971	162 days		Socialist Party		Thakur I
(8)			Bhola Paswan Shastri (1914–1984) MLA for Korha	2 June 1971	9 January 1972	221 days		Indian National Congress (R)	Ram Jaipal Singh Yadav (2 Jun. 1971 – 9 Jan. 1972)	Shastri III	D. K. Barooah
President's rule was imposed in during the period (9 January – 19 March 1972)
12			Kedar Pandey (1920–1982) MLA for Nautan	19 March 1972	2 July 1973	1 year, 105 days	1972 (6th)	Indian National Congress (R)	Position vacant (19 Mar. 1972 – 30 Apr. 1977)	Pandey	D. K. Barooah
13			Abdul Ghafoor (1918–2004) MLC	2 July 1973	11 April 1975	1 year, 283 days				Ghafoor	R. D. Bhandare
14			Jagannath Mishra (1937–2019) MLA for Jhanjharpur	11 April 1975	30 April 1977	2 years, 19 days				Mishra I
President's rule was imposed in during the period (30 April – 24 June 1977)
(11)			Karpoori Thakur (1924–1988) MLA for Phulparas	24 June 1977	21 April 1979	1 year, 301 days	1977 (7th)	Janata Party	Position vacant (24 Jun. 1977 – 17 Feb. 1980)	Thakur II	Jagannath Kaushal
15			Ram Sundar Das (1921–2015) MLA for Sonpur	21 April 1979	17 February 1980	302 days				Das
President's rule was imposed in during the period (14 February – 8 June 1980)
(14)			Jagannath Mishra (1937–2019) MLA for Jhanjharpur	8 June 1980	14 August 1983	3 years, 67 days	1980 (8th)	Indian National Congress (I)	Position vacant (8 Jun. 1980 – 28 Mar. 1995)	Mishra II	A. R. Kidwai
16			Chandrashekhar Singh (1927–1986) MLC	14 August 1983	12 March 1985	1 year, 210 days				Chandrashekhar
17			Bindeshwari Dubey (1921–1993) MLA for Shahpur	12 March 1985	13 February 1988	2 years, 338 days	1985 (9th)			Dubey
18			Bhagwat Jha Azad (1922–2011) MLC	13 February 1988	10 March 1989	1 year, 25 days				Azad	P. Venkatasubbaiah
19			Satyendra Narayan Sinha (1917–2006) MLC	11 March 1989	6 December 1989	270 days				Satyendra	Jagannath Pahadia
(14)			Jagannath Mishra (1937–2019) MLA for Jhanjharpur	6 December 1989	10 March 1990	94 days				Mishra III
20			Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 1948) MLC	10 March 1990	28 March 1995	5 years, 18 days	1990 (10th)	Janata Dal		Yadav I	Mohammad Yunus Saleem
President's rule was imposed in during the period (28 March – 4 April 1995)
(20)			Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 1948) MLA for Raghopur	4 April 1995	25 July 1997	2 years, 112 days	1995 (11th)	Janata Dal	Position vacant (4 Apr. 1995 – 11 Feb. 1999)	Yadav II	A. R. Kidwai
								Rashtriya Janata Dal
21			Rabri Devi (born 1955) MLC	25 July 1997	11 February 1999	1 year, 201 days				Rabri I
President's rule was imposed in during the period (11 February – 9 March 1999)
(21)			Rabri Devi (born 1955) MLC	9 March 1999	2 March 2000	359 days	– (11th)	Rashtriya Janata Dal	Position vacant (9 Mar. 1999 – 6 Mar. 2005)	Rabri II	Sunder Singh Bhandari
22			Nitish Kumar (born 1951) MLC	3 March 2000	10 March 2000	7 days	2000 (12th)	Samata Party		Kumar I	V. C. Pande
(21)			Rabri Devi (born 1955) MLC	11 March 2000	6 March 2005	4 years, 360 days		Rashtriya Janata Dal		Rabri III
President's rule was imposed in during the period (7 March – 24 November 2005) Elections were held to elect the 13th Assembly in February 2005, but no government was formed.
(22)			Nitish Kumar (born 1951) MLC	24 November 2005	20 May 2014	8 years, 177 days	Oct. 2005 (14th)	Janata Dal (United)	Sushil Kumar Modi (24 Nov. 2005 – 16 Jun. 2013) Position vacant (16 Jun. 2013 – 20 May. 2014)	Kumar II	Buta Singh
							2010 (15th)			Kumar III	Devanand Konwar
23			Jitan Ram Manjhi (born 1944) MLA for Makdumpur	20 May 2014	22 February 2015	278 days			Position vacant (20 May. 2014 – 20 Nov. 2015)	Manjhi	D. Y. Patil
(22)			Nitish Kumar (born 1951) MLC	22 February 2015	Incumbent	10 years, 110 days				Kumar IV	Keshari Nath Tripathi
						2015 (16th)	Tejashwi Yadav (24 Nov. 2015 – 26 Jul. 2017)		Kumar V	Ram Nath Kovind
							Sushil Kumar Modi (27 Jul. 2017 – 16 Nov. 2020)		Kumar VI	Keshari Nath Tripathi
						2020 (17th)	Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi (16 Nov. 2020 – 9 Aug. 2022)		Kumar VII	Phagu Chauhan
							Tejashwi Yadav (10 Aug. 2022 – 28 Jan. 2024)		Kumar VIII
							Vijay Kumar Sinha and Samrat Choudhary (since 28 Jan. 2024)		Kumar IX	Rajendra Arlekar

Chief Minister Statistics

This table shows how long each Chief Minister has served in Bihar. It helps us see who held the position for the longest time.

Timeline of Bihar's Chief Ministers

This timeline shows when each Chief Minister served, helping you visualize the history of leadership in Bihar.

See also

• Bihar
• List of governors of Bihar
• List of deputy chief ministers of Bihar

Quick facts for kids Chief Minister of Bihar
Emblem of Bihar
Incumbent Nitish Kumar since 22 February 2015
Government of Bihar
Style	The Honourable (Formal) Mr./Mrs. Chief Minister (Informal)
Abbreviation	CM
Member of	Cabinet Bihar Legislature
Reports to	Governor of Bihar Bihar Legislature
Residence	1, Aney Marg, Patna
Seat	Patna Secretariat
Nominator	Members of the Government of Bihar in Bihar Legislative Assembly
Appointer	Governor of Bihar by convention based on appointees ability to command confidence in the Bihar Legislative Assembly
Term length	At the confidence of the assembly Chief minister's term is for 5 years and is subject to no term limits.
Precursor	Premier of Bihar
Inaugural holder	Shri Krishna Sinha
Formation	26 January 1950 (75 years ago) (1950-01-26)
Deputy	Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar
Salary	₹215,000 (US$3,700)/monthly ₹2,580,000 (US$44,000)/annually

Mohammad Yunus, the first Premier of Bihar.

Shri Krishna Sinha, a long-serving Premier and Chief Minister.

Deep Narayan Singh.

Binodanand Jha.

Krishna Ballabh Sahay.

Mahamaya Prasad Sinha.

Satish Prasad Singh.

B. P. Mandal.

Bhola Paswan Shastri.

Harihar Singh.

Daroga Prasad Rai.

Karpoori Thakur.

Kedar Pandey.

Abdul Ghafoor.

Jagannath Mishra.

Ram Sundar Das.

Seal of Bihar (used as a placeholder for Chandrashekhar Singh's image).

Bindeshwari Dubey.

Bhagwat Jha Azad.

Satyendra Narayan Sinha.

Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Rabri Devi.

Nitish Kumar.

Jitan Ram Manjhi.

Shri Nitish Kumar.