| Post: | Chief Minister |
| Body: | Bihar |
| Insignia: | File:Seal of Bihar.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 180px |
| Insigniacaption: | Emblem of Bihar |
| Seat: | Patna Secretariat |
| Incumbent: | Nitish Kumar |
| Incumbentsince: | 22 February 2015 |
| Department: | Government of Bihar |
| Type: | Head of Government |
| Status: | Leader of the Executive |
| Abbreviation: | CM |
| Reportsto: |
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| Appointer: | Governor of Bihar by convention based on appointees ability to command confidence in the Bihar Legislative Assembly |
| Termlength: | At the confidence of the assembly |
| Termlength Qualified: | Chief minister's term is for 5 years and is subject to no term limits. |
| Inaugural: | Shri Krishna Sinha |
| Residence: | 1, Aney Marg, Patna |
| Deputy: | Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar |
| Salary: |
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| Nominator: | Members of the Government of Bihar in Bihar Legislative Assembly |
| Precursor: | Premier 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 current incumbent is Nitish Kumar who is having incumbency since 22 February 2015. The longest incumbent chief minister of Bihar held to Nitish Kumar.
The province of Bihar headquartered in Patna then comprised the present-day states Bihar and Jharkhand. On 1 April 1936, Bihar and Orissa became separate provinces by the partition of the province of Bihar and Orissa. Under the Government of India Act 1935, a bicameral legislature was set up with a legislative assembly and a legislative council with a government headed by the Premier.[1] [2]
| Portrait | Name | Term of Office | Party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Tenure | ||||
| 1 | Mohammad Yunus | 1 April 1937 | 19 July 1937 | |||
| 2 | Shri Krishna Sinha | 20 July 1937 | 31 October 1939 | Indian National Congress | ||
| (2) | Shri Krishna Sinha | 23 March 1946 | 14 August 1947 | Indian National Congress | ||
| Portrait | Name | Constituency | Term of office | Assembly | Party | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shri Krishna Sinha | Kharagpur | 26 January 1950 | 29 April 1952 | Provincial | Indian National Congress | |||
| 29 April 1952 | 5 May 1957 | 1st | |||||||
| Sheikhpura | 5 May 1957 | 31 January 1961 | 2nd | ||||||
| 2 | Deep Narayan Singh | Hajipur | 1 February 1961 | 18 February 1961 | |||||
| 3 | Binodanand Jha | Rajmahal | 18 February 1961 | 15 March 1962 | |||||
| 15 March 1962 | 2 October 1963 | 3rd | |||||||
| 4 | Krishna Ballabh Sahay | Patna West | 2 October 1963 | 5 March 1967 | |||||
| 5 | Mahamaya Prasad Sinha | Patna West | 5 March 1967 | 28 January 1968 | 4th(1967 election) | Jana Kranti Dal | |||
| 6 | Satish Prasad Singh | Parbatta | 28 January 1968 | 1 February 1968 | Shoshit Dal | ||||
| 7 | B. P. Mandal | MLC | 1 February 1968 | 22 March 1968 | |||||
| 8 | Bhola Paswan Shastri | Korha | 22 March 1968 | 29 June 1968 | Loktantrik Congress | ||||
| – | Vacant(President's rule) | N/A | 29 June 1968 | 26 February 1969 | Dissolved | N/A | |||
| 9 | Harihar Singh | Nayagram | 26 February 1969 | 22 June 1969 | 5th(1969 election) | Indian National Congress | |||
| (8) | Bhola Paswan Shastri | Korha | 22 June 1969 | 4 July 1969 | Loktantrik Congress | ||||
| – | Vacant | N/A | 4 July 1969 | 16 February 1970 | N/A | ||||
| 10 | Daroga Prasad Rai | Parsa | 16 February 1970 | 22 December 1970 | Indian National Congress (R) | ||||
| 11 | Karpoori Thakur | Tajpur | 22 December 1970 | 2 June 1971 | Samyukta Socialist Party | ||||
| (8) | Bhola Paswan Shastri | Korha | 2 June 1971 | 9 January 1972 | Loktantrik Congress | ||||
| – | Vacant | N/A | 9 January 1972 | 19 March 1972 | Dissolved | N/A | |||
| 12 | Kedar Pandey | Nautan | 19 March 1972 | 2 July 1973 | 6th(1972 election) | Indian National Congress | |||
| 13 | Abdul Ghafoor | MLC | 2 July 1973 | 11 April 1975 | |||||
| 14 | Jagannath Mishra | Jhanjharpur | 11 April 1975 | 30 April 1977 | |||||
| – | Vacant | N/A | 30 April 1977 | 24 June 1977 | Dissolved | N/A | |||
| (11) | Karpoori Thakur | Phulparas | 24 June 1977 | 21 April 1979 | 7th(1977 election) | Janata Party | |||
| 15 | Ram Sundar Das | Sonepur | 21 April 1979 | 17 February 1980 | |||||
| – | Vacant | N/A | 17 February 1980 | 8 June 1980 | N/A | ||||
| (14) | Jagannath Mishra | Jhanjharpur | 8 June 1980 | 14 August 1983 | 8th(1980 election) | Indian National Congress | |||
| 16 | Chandrashekhar Singh | MLC | 14 August 1983 | 12 March 1985 | |||||
| 17 | Bindeshwari Dubey | Shahpur | 12 March 1985 | 14 February 1988 | 9th(1985 election) | ||||
| 18 | Bhagwat Jha Azad | MLC | 14 February 1988 | 11 March 1989 | |||||
| 19 | Satyendra Narayan Sinha | MLC | 11 March 1989 | 6 December 1989 | |||||
| (14) | Jagannath Mishra | Jhanjharpur | 6 December 1989 | 10 March 1990 | |||||
| 20 | Lalu Prasad Yadav | MLC | 10 March 1990 | 28 March 1995 | 10th(1990 election) | Janata Dal | |||
| – | Vacant | N/A | 28 March 1995 | 4 April 1995 | Dissolved | N/A | |||
| (20) | Lalu Prasad Yadav | Raghopur | 4 April 1995 | 25 July 1997 | 11th(1995 election) | Janata Dal | |||
| Rashtriya Janata Dal | |||||||||
| 21 | Rabri Devi | MLC | 25 July 1997 | 11 February 1999 | |||||
| – | Vacant) | N/A | 11 February 1999 | 9 March 1999 | N/A | ||||
| (21) | Rabri Devi | MLC | 9 March 1999 | 3 March 2000 | Rashtriya Janata Dal | ||||
| 22 | Nitish Kumar | unelected | 3 March 2000 | 11 March 2000[3] | 12th(2000 election) | Samata Party | |||
| (21) | Raghopur | 11 March 2000 | 7 March 2005 | Rashtriya Janata Dal | |||||
| – | Vacant | N/A | 7 March 2005 | 24 November 2005 | 13th(Feb 2005 election) | N/A | |||
| (22) | Nitish Kumar | MLC | 24 November 2005 | 26 November 2010 | 14th(Oct 2005 election) | Janata Dal (United) | |||
| 26 November 2010 | 20 May 2014 | 15th(2010 election) | |||||||
| 23 | Jitan Ram Manjhi | Makhdumpur | 20 May 2014 | 22 February 2015 | |||||
| (22) | Nitish Kumar | MLC | 22 February 2015 | 20 November 2015 | |||||
| 20 November 2015 | 16 November 2020 | 16th(2015 election) | |||||||
| 16 November 2020 | Incumbent | 17th(2020 election) | |||||||
| Name | Party | Length of term | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longest continuous term | Total years of premiership | ||||||
| data-sort-value="1" | 1 | Nitish Kumar | JD(U) | 18 years, 90 days | |||
| data-sort-value="2" | 2 | Shri Krishna Sinha | INC | 14 years, 314 days | 17 years, 51 days | ||
| data-sort-value="3" | 3 | Rabri Devi | RJD | 4 years, 360 days | 7 year, 190 days | ||
| data-sort-value="4" | 4 | Lalu Prasad Yadav | JD | 5 years, 18 days | 7 years, 130 days | ||
| data-sort-value="5" | 5 | Jagannath Mishra | INC | 3 years, 67 days | 5 years, 180 days | ||
| data-sort-value="6" | 6 | Krishna Ballabh Sahay | INC | 3 years, 154 days | 3 years, 154 days | ||
| data-sort-value="7" | 7 | Bindeshwari Dubey | INC | 2 years, 338 days | 2 years, 338 days | ||
| data-sort-value="8" | 8 | Binodanand Jha | INC | 2 years, 226 days | 2 years, 226 days | ||
| data-sort-value="9" | 9 | Karpoori Thakur | SP | 1 year, 301 days | 2 years, 98 days | ||
| data-sort-value="10" | 10 | Abdul Ghafoor | INC | 1 year, 283 days | 1 year, 283 days | ||
| data-sort-value="11" | 11 | Chandrashekhar Singh | INC | 1 year, 210 days | 1 year, 210 days | ||
| data-sort-value="12" | 12 | Kedar Pandey | INC | 1 year, 105 days | 1 year, 105 days | ||
| data-sort-value="13" | 13 | Bhagwat Jha Azad | INC | 1 year, 24 days | 1 year, 24 days | ||
| data-sort-value="14" | 14 | Mahamaya Prasad Sinha | JKD | 329 days | 329 days | ||
| data-sort-value="15" | 15 | Daroga Prasad Rai | INC | 310 days | 310 days | ||
| data-sort-value="16" | 16 | Ram Sundar Das | JP | 302 days | 302 days | ||
| data-sort-value="17" | 17 | Jitan Ram Manjhi | JD(U) | 278 days | 278 days | ||
| data-sort-value="18" | 18 | Satyendra Narayan Sinha | INC | 270 days | 270 days | ||
| data-sort-value="19" | 19 | Harihar Singh | INC | 117 days | 117 days | ||
| data-sort-value="20" | 20 | Bhola Paswan Shastri | INC | 99 days | 112 days | ||
| data-sort-value="21" | 21 | Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal | SSP | 51 days | 51 days | ||
| data-sort-value="22" | 22 | Deep Narayan Singh | INC | 17 days | 17 days | ||
| data-sort-value="23" | 23 | Satish Prasad Singh | SSP | 5 days | 5 days | ||