Nitish Kumar has been re-elected as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar and will take the oath of office as chief minister in Patna today. This marks his tenth time assuming the chief ministerial position, setting a record for any chief minister in India. Although one would typically expect about five oath ceremonies for the duration he has served, Kumar’s political journey has often been unpredictable. His initial term as chief minister in 2000 lasted just a week due to a lack of majority. He later returned to power following the assembly elections in 2005 and 2010 when the NDA secured victory in the state.
After his party, the JD(U), performed poorly in the 2014 elections—contesting without both the BJP and the RJD—he resigned and appointed Jitan Ram Manjhi as chief minister. Kumar resumed his role in 2015 prior to the assembly elections, marking his fourth swearing-in. He took the oath again after winning the 2015 and 2020 elections, first as part of the JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance and later as an NDA partner. His unusual political path has led to three additional oath ceremonies due to alliance shifts—joining the NDA in 2017, reverting to the RJD in 2022, and returning to the NDA in 2024. Despite these multiple ceremonies, Kumar is not the longest-serving chief minister in India. With 7,023 days in office, he ranks eighth.
If he completes the upcoming term of 1,845 days, he will move up to third place, following Sikkim’s Pawan Kumar Chamling and Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik. Kumar has also worked with 14 different governors during his tenure, ranking third among chief ministers for the most gubernatorial changes, behind Lal Thanhawla of Mizoram and Virbhadra Singh of Himachal Pradesh.
