Bihar assembly election 2025: Nitish Kumar is not contesting Bihar assembly elections this year, in fact, he has won the state polls only two times -the last being around 30 years ago. Yet, he has managed to become one of the longest serving Chief Ministers of a key political state. Nitish has tried his fate only thrice in the Bihar polls, winning only twice.
And the second time he emerged victorious, he chose to leave the opportunity and serve as the Member of Parliament (MP). As for the record, he has performed better in Lok Sabha polls which he has won six times.
It was in 1985 when Nitish Kumar won and remained the Bihar MLA. Ten years later in 1995, he prioritised being an MP rather than MLA from Bihar’s Harnaut. His first election in Bihar assembly was in 1977 and besides these three occasions, he has never contested any state polls. But yet, he has managed to be the Chief Minister. How?
Nitish the CM, but not an MLA
Nitish Kumar became Bihar CM for the first time in 2000, then he was not a member of legislature in the state and the government also collapsed within 8 days. His next stint began in 2005. Since then, there has been no stopping till 2014, when he resigned after JD(U)’s dastardly performance in the Lok Sabha elections that year.
He went on to switch sides from NDA to opposition, but remained the face for all. However, every time he took oath as the CM, he was not a member of either of the houses of Bihar legislature. But he did become a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) early next year.
Law helps Nitish Kumar to remain CM without being an MLA – Explained
The law says a chief minister or a minister must be a member of the state legislature. Bihar is one of the six states to have a Legislative Council as the Upper House in the state legislature. The other states are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana.
Hence, the Chief Minister became an MLC, until his term expired in 2012. He got reelected to the Upper House, amid rivals’ accusations that he fears going into the ground. However, Nitish denied them all and said, “I chose to become an MLC by choice and not because of any compulsion as the Upper House is a respectable institution.”
He got re-elected to the Legislative Council in 2018 and in 2024 again for the fourth time in a row, and hence he remained the CM.
Interestingly, he is not the only one to have take this route. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray have been the MLC and not MLA.