New Delhi: Nitish Kumar on Thursday (November 20) took oath as Bihar chief minister for the tenth time after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) swept the assembly elections in the state last week, winning 202 of the 243 seats in the assembly.

With Nitish being sworn-in as chief minister again, he has become one of the longest-running chief ministers in the country. Kumar has remained at the post since he first became chief minister in 2005, barring a short stint between 2014-15.

The swearing-in ceremony in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah as well as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J.P. Nadda apart from NDA allies in the state.

Along with Nitish, BJP leaders Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Sinha were also sworn-in as deputy chief ministers for the second time. The two were named the leader and deputy leader of the BJP legislature party on Wednesday.

Following the oath-taking ceremony, Modi in a statement on X congratulated Nitish "as an experienced administrator with a proven track record of good governance for many years."

Modi also congratulated Chaudhary and Sinha for becoming deputy chief ministers again. "Both leaders have worked extensively at the grassroots in serving people. Best wishes to them," he said.

While the BJP has emerged as the single party winning 89 seats, the JD(U) won 85. Other NDA constituents including Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) won 19 seats, Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) won 5 and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) won 4 seats.

A total of 26 cabinet ministers took oath on Thursday. This includes 14 from the BJP, eight from JD(U), 2 from LJP (RV) and one each from HAM(S) and RLM.

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