List of Chief Ministers of Bihar

Chief Minister of Bihar
Incumbent
Nitish Kumar
since 22 February 2015
Appointer Governor of Bihar
Inaugural holder Krishna Singh
Formation 2 April 1946
Website CM website

The Chief Minister of Bihar is the chief executive of the Indian state of Bihar. As per the Constitution of India, the Governor of Bihar is the state's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Bihar Legislative Assembly, the governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given that he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.[1]

From 1946, 23 people have been Chief Minister of Bihar. Serving since February 2015, Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) is the current incumbent; this is his third stint in office.

Premiers of Bihar

No Name Took office Left office Party[lower-alpha 1] Tenure
1 Mohammad Yunus[2] 1 April 1937 19 July 1937 Independent 110 days
2 Krishna Singh[3] 20 July 1937 31 October 1939 Indian National Congress 834 days

Chief Ministers of Bihar

After Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted for his involvement in the fodder scam in 1997, he installed his wife Rabri Devi as Chief Minister instead. Together, they governed for nearly 15 years between 1990 and 2005.
Colour key for parties
  Indian National Congress (O)
  Jana Kranti Dal
  Samata Party
Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar had served eight and a half years as Bihar's premier, before stepping down because of his party's poor showing in the 2014 general election.
No Name[4] Took office Left office Party[lower-alpha 1] Tenure
1 Krishna Singh 2 April 1946 31 January 1961 Indian National Congress 5419 days
2 Deep Narayan Singh 1 February 1961 18 February 1961 18 days
3 Binodanand Jha 18 February 1961 2 October 1963 926 days
4 K. B. Sahay 2 October 1963 5 March 1967 1250 days
5 Mahamaya Prasad Sinha 5 March 1967 28 January 1968 Jana Kranti Dal 330 days
6 Satish Prasad Singh 28 January 1968 1 February 1968 Indian National Congress 5 days
7 B. P. Mandal 1 February 1968 2 March 1968 31 days
8 Bhola Paswan Shastri 22 March 1968 29 June 1968 Indian National Congress (O) 100 days
– Vacant[lower-alpha 2]
(President's rule)		 29 June 1968 26 February 1969 N/A
9 Harihar Singh 26 February 1969 22 June 1969 Indian National Congress 117 days
(8) Bhola Paswan Shastri [2] 22 June 1969 4 July 1969 Indian National Congress (O) 13 days
– Vacant[lower-alpha 2]
(President's rule)		 6 July 1969 16 February 1970 N/A
10 Daroga Prasad Rai 16 February. 1970 22 December 1970 Indian National Congress 310 days
11 Karpoori Thakur 22 December 1970 2 June 1971 Socialist Party 163 days
(8) Bhola Paswan Shastri [3] 2 June 1971 9 January 1972 Indian National Congress 222 days
(total 335 days)
– Vacant[lower-alpha 2]
(President's rule)		 9 January 1972 19 March 1972 N/A
12 Kedar Pandey 19 March 1972 2 July 1973 Indian National Congress 471 days
13 Abdul Gafoor 2 July 1973 11 April 1975 649 days
14 Jagannath Mishra 11 April 1975 30 April 1977 750 days
– Vacant[lower-alpha 2]
(President's rule)		 30 April 1977 24 June 1977 N/A
(11) Karpoori Thakur 24 June 1977 21 April 1979 Janata Party 668 days
15 Ram Sundar Das 21 April 1979 17 February 1980 303 days
– Vacant[lower-alpha 2]
(President's rule)		 17 February 1980 8 June 1980 N/A
(14) Jagannath Mishra [2] 8 June 1980 14 August 1983 Indian National Congress (I) 1133 days
16 Chandrashekhar Singh 14 August 1983 12 March 1985 577 days
17 Bindeshwari Dubey 12 March 1985 13 February 1988 1068 days
18 Bhagwat Jha Azad 14 February 1988 10 March 1989 391 days
19 Satyendra Narayan Sinha 11 March 1989 6 December 1989 271 days
(14) Jagannath Mishra [3] 6 December 1989 10 March 1990 95 days
(total 1978 days)
20 Lalu Prasad Yadav 10 March 1990 28 March 1995 Janata Dal 1845 days
– Vacant[lower-alpha 2]
(President's rule)		 28 March 1995 4 April 1995 N/A
(20) Lalu Prasad Yadav [2] 4 April 1995 25 July 1997 Janata Dal, Rashtriya Janata Dal 844 days
(total 2689 days)
21 Rabri Devi 25 July 1997 11 February 1999 Rashtriya Janata Dal 538 days
– Vacant[lower-alpha 2]
(President's rule)		 11 February 1999 9 March 1999 N/A
(21) Rabri Devi [2] 9 March 1999 2 March 2000 Rashtriya Janata Dal 359 days
22 Nitish Kumar 3 March 2000 10 March 2000 Samata Party[6] 8 days
(21) Rabri Devi [3][lower-alpha 3] 11 March 2000 6 March 2005 Rashtriya Janata Dal 1821 days
(total 2718 days)
– Vacant[lower-alpha 2]
(President's rule)		 7 March 2005 24 November 2005 N/A
(22) Nitish Kumar [2] 24 November 2005 20 May 2014 Janata Dal (United) 3099 days
23 Jitan Ram Manjhi 20 May 2014 22 February 2015 278 days
(22) Nitish Kumar [3] 22 February 2015 Incumbent

See also

Notes and References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chief ministers of Bihar.
Notes
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 President's rule may be imposed when the "government in a state is not able to function as per the Constitution", which often happens because no party or coalition has a majority in the assembly. When President's rule is in force in a state, its council of ministers stands dissolved. The office of chief minister thus lies vacant, and the administration is taken over by the governor, who functions on behalf of the central government. At times, the legislative assembly also stands dissolved.[5]
  3. ↑ On 15 November 2000, the new state of Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar.
References
  1. ↑ Durga Das Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India. 1960. 20th Edition, 2011 Reprint. pp. 241, 245. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. ISBN 978-81-8038-559-9. Note: although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Bihar as well.
  2. ↑ "Nitish Honors Bihar’s First Premier". PatnaDaily.com.
  3. ↑ "Premiers and Chief Ministers of Bihar Since 1937". Bihar Legislative Assembly.
  4. ↑ "Chief Ministers of Bihar". Bihar Chief Minister's website.
  5. ↑ Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005.
  6. ↑ http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2000/03/04/stories/01040001.htm