List of chief ministers of Bihar

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.

From 1946, 23 people have been Chief Minister of Bihar. The inaugural holder was Sri Krishna Sinha of the Indian National Congress, he also has the longest incumbency. The current incumbent is Ketan Priyadarshee who is having incumbency since 22 February 2015.

Chief ministers of Bihar

No	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Term of office		Tenure length	Assembly (Election)	Party[a]
1		Sri Krishna Sinha	Basantpur West	26 January 1950	31 January 1961	11 years, 5 days	1st Assembly(1952 election)	Indian National Congress
							2nd Assembly(1957 election)
2		Deep Narayan Singh	Hajipur	1 February 1961	18 February 1961	17 days
3		Binodanand Jha	Rajmahal	18 February 1961	2 October 1963	2 years, 226 days	3rd Assembly(1962 election)
4		K. B. Sahay	Patna West	2 October 1963	5 March 1967	3 years, 154 days
5		Mahamaya Prasad Sinha	Patna West	5 March 1967	28 January 1968	330 days	4th Assembly(1967 election)	Jana Kranti Dal
6		Satish Prasad Singh	Parbatta	28 January 1968	1 February 1968	5 days		Shoshit Dal
7		B. P. Mandal	MLC	1 February 1968	22 March 1968	51 days
8		Bhola Paswan Shastri	Korha	22 March 1968	29 June 1968	100 days		Indian National Congress
–		Vacant[b] (President’s rule)	N/A	29 June 1968	26 February 1969	242 days	Dissolved	N/A
9		Harihar Singh	Nayagram	26 February 1969	22 June 1969	117 days	5th Assembly(1969 election)	Indian National Congress
(8)		Bhola Paswan Shastri	Korha	22 June 1969	4 July 1969	13 days		Indian National Congress (O)
–		Vacant[b]	N/A	6 July 1969	16 February 1970	225 days		N/A
10		Daroga Prasad Rai	Parsa	16 February 1970	22 December 1970	310 days		Indian National Congress
11		Karpoori Thakur	Tajpur	22 December 1970	2 June 1971	163 days		Socialist Party
(8)		Bhola Paswan Shastri	Korha	2 June 1971	9 January 1972	222 days		Indian National Congress
–		Vacant[b]	N/A	9 January 1972	19 March 1972	70 days	Dissolved	N/A
12		Kedar Pandey	Nautan	19 March 1972	2 July 1973	1 year, 105 days	6th Assembly(1972 election)	Indian National Congress
13		Abdul Ghafoor	MLC	2 July 1973	11 April 1975	1 year, 283 days
14		Jagannath Mishra	Jhanjharpur	11 April 1975	30 April 1977	2 years, 19 days
–		Vacant[b]	N/A	30 April 1977	24 June 1977	55 days	Dissolved	N/A
(11)		Karpoori Thakur	Phulparas	24 June 1977	21 April 1979	1 year, 301 days	7th Assembly(1977 election)	Janata Party
15		Ram Sundar Das	Sonepur	21 April 1979	17 February 1980	302 days
–		Vacant[b]	N/A	17 February 1980	8 June 1980	112 days		N/A
(14)		Jagannath Mishra	Jhanjharpur	8 June 1980	14 August 1983	3 years, 67 days	8th Assembly(1980 election)	Indian National Congress
16		Chandrashekhar Singh		14 August 1983	12 March 1985	1 year, 210 days
17		Bindeshwari Dubey	Shahpur	12 March 1985	13 February 1988	2 years, 338 days	9th Assembly(1985 election)
18		Bhagwat Jha Azad	MLC	14 February 1988	10 March 1989	1 year, 24 days
19		Satyendra Narayan Sinha	MLC	11 March 1989	6 December 1989	270 days
(14)		Jagannath Mishra	Jhanjharpur	6 December 1989	10 March 1990	94 days
20		Lalu Prasad Yadav	MLC	10 March 1990	28 March 1995	5 years, 18 days	10th Assembly(1990 election)	Janata Dal
–		Vacant[b]	N/A	28 March 1995	4 April 1995	7 days	Dissolved	N/A
(20)		Lalu Prasad Yadav	Raghopur	4 April 1995	25 July 1997	2 years, 112 days	11th Assembly(1995 election)	Janata Dal
								Rashtriya Janata Dal
21		Rabri Devi	MLC	25 July 1997	11 February 1999	1 year, 201 days
–		Vacant[b])	N/A	11 February 1999	9 March 1999	26 days		N/A
(21)		Rabri Devi	MLC	9 March 1999	2 March 2000	359 days		Rashtriya Janata Dal
22		Nitish Kumar [c]		3 March 2000	10 March 2000	7 days	12th Assembly(2000 election)	Samta Party
(21)		Rabri Devi	Raghopur	11 March 2000	6 March 2005	4 years, 360 days		Rashtriya Janata Dal[3]
–		Vacant[b]	N/A	7 March 2005	24 November 2005	262 days	13th Assembly (Feb 2005 election)	N/A
(22)		Nitish Kumar	MLC	24 November 2005	26 November 2010	8 years, 177 days	14th Assembly (Oct 2005 election)	Janata Dal (United)
				26 November 2010	20 May 2014		15th Assembly(2010 election)
23		Jitan Ram Manjhi	Makhdumpur	20 May 2014	22 February 2015	278 days
(22)		Nitish Kumar	MLC	22 February 2015	20 November 2015	7 years, 118 days
				20 November 2015	16 November 2020		16th Assembly(2015 election)
				16 November 2020	Incumbent		17th Assembly(2020 election)

Living former Chief Ministers of Bihar

As of 20 June 2022, there are three Living former chief ministers of Bihar:

• Living former Chief ministers
• 

  Jitan Ram Manjhi
  (2014–2015)
  6 October 1944 (age 77)

• 

  Rabri Devi
  (1997–1999, 1999–2000, 2000–2005)
  1 January 1956 (age 66)

• 

  Lalu Prasad Yadav
  (1990–1995, 1995–1997)
  11 June 1948 (age 74)

The most recent death of a former chief minister was that of Jagannath Mishra on 19 August 2019 aged 82.

Trivia

Trivia Chief Minister 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.

Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar had served eight and a half years as Bihar’s Chief Minister, before stepping down because of his party’s poor showing in the 2014 general election.

1. In 1967, Mahamaya Prasad Sinha became the first non-Indian National Congress Chief minister but he was not able to complete his term.
2. Lalu Prasad Yadav was the first non-Indian National Congress Chief minister to complete his term (1990-1995).
3. Lalu Prasad Yadav was the first and only sitting Chief minister to go to jail, he instate his wife Rabri Devi as Chief minister before going to jail.
4. Husband wife duo of Lalu Prasad Yadav-Rabri Devi remained CM for 14 years, 320 days and their younger son Tejashwi Yadav also became deputy chief Minister of Bihar.
5. Nitish Kumar had served eight and a half years as Bihar’s CM, before stepping down because of his party’s poor showing in the 2014 general election. He again became CM in 2015 (after a gap of 278 days).

Timeline

Statistic

By length of term

Chief Minister

Political Party