List of chief ministers of Bihar facts for kids

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

The Chief Minister of Bihar is like the main boss of the Indian state of Bihar. Think of them as the leader of the state government. While the Governor of Bihar is the official head, the Chief Minister holds the real power. They lead the state's day-to-day work.

After elections for the Bihar Legislative Assembly (which is like Bihar's parliament), the Governor usually asks the party or group of parties with the most seats to form the government. The Governor then chooses the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister and their team of ministers (called the Council of Ministers) work together. They are all responsible to the Assembly. As long as the Chief Minister has the support of the Assembly, they serve for five years. There's no limit to how many times someone can be Chief Minister.

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

Bihar's Early Leaders: The Premiers

Before India became fully independent and adopted its Constitution, Bihar was a province. It included the areas that are now Bihar and Jharkhand. 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. It had a legislative assembly and a legislative council. The government was led by someone called the Premier. This was similar to a Chief Minister today.

Who Are the Chief Ministers of Bihar?

This section lists the people who have served as Chief Minister of Bihar.

Understanding the List: Key Information

Here's what the colors and symbols in the list mean:      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 (meaning the Assembly no longer supported them)

#	Picture		Chief Minister (Born-Died) Where they represented)	Time in Office			Election Year (Term Number)	Political Party	Deputy Chief Minister(s) (Time in Office)	Government Name	Appointed by (Governor)
1			Shri Krishna Sinha (1887–1961) Member, Interim Assembly (until 1952) MLA for Basantpur (1952–1957) MLA Sheikhpura (from 1957)	August 15, 1947	January 31, 1961	13 years, 169 days	1946 (Interim)	Indian National Congress	Anugrah Narayan Sinha (Jan. 26, 1950 – Jul. 5, 1957) No one in this role (Jul. 5, 1957 – Jan. 31, 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	February 1, 1961	February 18, 1961	17 days			No one in this role (Jan. 31, 1961 – Mar. 5, 1967)	Deep Narayan	Zakir Husain
3			Binodanand Jha (1900–1971) MLA for Rajmahal	February 18, 1961	October 2, 1963	2 years, 226 days				Jha I
							1962 (3rd)			Jha II
4			Krishna Ballabh Sahay (1898–1974) MLA for Patna West	October 2, 1963	March 5, 1967	3 years, 154 days				Sahay	M. A. Ayyangar
5			Mahamaya Prasad Sinha (1909–1987) MLA for Patna West	March 5, 1967	January 28, 1968	329 days	1967 (4th)	Jana Kranti Dal	Karpoori Thakur (Mar. 5, 1967 – Jan. 28, 1968)	Mahamaya
6			Satish Prasad Singh (1936–2020) MLA for Parbatta	January 28, 1968	February 1, 1968	4 days		Shoshit Dal	Jagdeo Prasad (Jan. 28, 1968 – Feb. 1, 1968)	Satish Prasad	Nityanand Kanungo
7			B. P. Mandal (1918–1982) MLC	February 1, 1968	March 22, 1968	50 days			No one in this role (Feb. 1, 1968 – Jun. 29, 1968)	Mandal
8			Bhola Paswan Shastri (1914–1984) MLA for Korha	March 22, 1968	June 29, 1968	99 days		Indian National Congress		Shastri I
President's rule (direct rule by the central government) was in place (June 29, 1968 – February 26, 1969)
9			Harihar Singh (1925–1994) MLA for Nayagram	February 26, 1969	June 22, 1969	116 days	1969 (5th)	Indian National Congress	No one in this role (Feb. 26, 1969 – Jul. 4, 1969)	Harihar	Nityanand Kanungo
(8)			Bhola Paswan Shastri (1914–1984) MLA for Korha	June 22, 1969	July 4, 1969	12 days		Indian National Congress (O)		Shastri II
President's rule was in place (July 6, 1969 – February 16, 1970)
10			Daroga Prasad Rai (1922–1981) MLA for Parsa	February 16, 1970	December 22, 1970	309 days	– (5th)	Indian National Congress (R)	No one in this role (Feb. 16, 1970 – Jun. 2, 1971)	Rai	Nityanand Kanungo
11			Karpoori Thakur (1924–1988) MLA for Samastipur	December 22, 1970	June 2, 1971	162 days		Socialist Party		Thakur I
(8)			Bhola Paswan Shastri (1914–1984) MLA for Korha	June 2, 1971	January 9, 1972	221 days		Indian National Congress (R)	Ram Jaipal Singh Yadav (Jun. 2, 1971 – Jan. 9, 1972)	Shastri III	D. K. Barooah
President's rule was in place (January 9 – March 19, 1972)
12			Kedar Pandey (1920–1982) MLA for Nautan	March 19, 1972	July 2, 1973	1 year, 105 days	1972 (6th)	Indian National Congress (R)	No one in this role (Mar. 19, 1972 – Apr. 30, 1977)	Pandey	D. K. Barooah
13			Abdul Ghafoor (1918–2004) MLC	July 2, 1973	April 11, 1975	1 year, 283 days				Ghafoor	R. D. Bhandare
14			Jagannath Mishra (1937–2019) MLA for Jhanjharpur	April 11, 1975	April 30, 1977	2 years, 19 days				Mishra I
President's rule was in place (April 30 – June 24, 1977)
(11)			Karpoori Thakur (1924–1988) MLA for Phulparas	June 24, 1977	April 21, 1979	1 year, 301 days	1977 (7th)	Janata Party	No one in this role (Jun. 24, 1977 – Feb. 17, 1980)	Thakur II	Jagannath Kaushal
15			Ram Sundar Das (1921–2015) MLA for Sonpur	April 21, 1979	February 17, 1980	302 days				Das
President's rule was in place (February 14 – June 8, 1980)
(14)			Jagannath Mishra (1937–2019) MLA for Jhanjharpur	June 8, 1980	August 14, 1983	3 years, 67 days	1980 (8th)	Indian National Congress (I)	No one in this role (Jun. 8, 1980 – Mar. 28, 1995)	Mishra II	A. R. Kidwai
16			Chandrashekhar Singh (1927–1986) MLC	August 14, 1983	March 12, 1985	1 year, 210 days				Chandrashekhar
17			Bindeshwari Dubey (1921–1993) MLA for Shahpur	March 12, 1985	February 13, 1988	2 years, 338 days	1985 (9th)			Dubey
18			Bhagwat Jha Azad (1922–2011) MLC	February 13, 1988	March 10, 1989	1 year, 25 days				Azad	P. Venkatasubbaiah
19			Satyendra Narayan Sinha (1917–2006) MLC	March 11, 1989	December 6, 1989	270 days				Satyendra	Jagannath Pahadia
(14)			Jagannath Mishra (1937–2019) MLA for Jhanjharpur	December 6, 1989	March 10, 1990	94 days				Mishra III
20			Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 1948) MLC	March 10, 1990	March 28, 1995	5 years, 18 days	1990 (10th)	Janata Dal		Yadav I	Mohammad Yunus Saleem
President's rule was in place (March 28 – April 4, 1995)
(20)			Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 1948) MLA for Raghopur	April 4, 1995	July 25, 1997	2 years, 112 days	1995 (11th)	Janata Dal	No one in this role (Apr. 4, 1995 – Feb. 11, 1999)	Yadav II	A. R. Kidwai
								Rashtriya Janata Dal
21			Rabri Devi (born 1955) MLC	July 25, 1997	February 11, 1999	1 year, 201 days				Rabri I
President's rule was in place (February 11 – March 9, 1999)
(21)			Rabri Devi (born 1955) MLC	March 9, 1999	March 2, 2000	359 days	– (11th)	Rashtriya Janata Dal	No one in this role (Mar. 9, 1999 – Mar. 6, 2005)	Rabri II	Sunder Singh Bhandari
22			Nitish Kumar (born 1951) MLC	March 3, 2000	March 10, 2000	7 days	2000 (12th)	Samata Party		Kumar I	V. C. Pande
(21)			Rabri Devi (born 1955) MLC	March 11, 2000	March 6, 2005	4 years, 360 days		Rashtriya Janata Dal		Rabri III
President's rule was in place (March 7 – November 24, 2005) Elections were held in February 2005, but no government was formed.
(22)			Nitish Kumar (born 1951) MLC	November 24, 2005	May 20, 2014	8 years, 177 days	Oct. 2005 (14th)	Janata Dal (United)	Sushil Kumar Modi (Nov. 24, 2005 – Jun. 16, 2013) No one in this role (Jun. 16, 2013 – May. 20, 2014)	Kumar II	Buta Singh
							2010 (15th)			Kumar III	Devanand Konwar
23			Jitan Ram Manjhi (born 1944) MLA for Makdumpur	May 20, 2014	February 22, 2015	278 days			No one in this role (May. 20, 2014 – Nov. 20, 2015)	Manjhi	D. Y. Patil
(22)			Nitish Kumar (born 1951) MLC	February 22, 2015	Incumbent	10 years, 120 days				Kumar IV	Keshari Nath Tripathi
						2015 (16th)	Tejashwi Yadav (Nov. 24, 2015 – Jul. 26, 2017)		Kumar V	Ram Nath Kovind
							Sushil Kumar Modi (Jul. 27, 2017 – Nov. 16, 2020)		Kumar VI	Keshari Nath Tripathi
						2020 (17th)	Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi (Nov. 16, 2020 – Aug. 9, 2022)		Kumar VII	Phagu Chauhan
							Tejashwi Yadav (Aug. 10, 2022 – Jan. 28, 2024)		Kumar VIII
							Vijay Kumar Sinha and Samrat Choudhary (since Jan. 28, 2024)		Kumar IX	Rajendra Arlekar

Chief Minister Facts and Figures

This section gives you some interesting facts about the Chief Ministers of Bihar.

Timeline of Chief Ministers

Political Parties and Their Time in Power

This table shows how long different political parties have held the Chief Minister position in Bihar. This information is correct as of February 23, 2022.

More About Bihar's Government

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

Images for kids

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  Mohammad Yunus, Bihar's first Premier.