Patna: No chief minister in India has taken oath as many times as Nitish Kumar, who on Thursday was sworn in for an unprecedented 10th term, extending his nearly two-decade-long leadership of Bihar.

At 74, Kumar has now crossed 19 years in office, placing him among the country’s top 10 longest-serving chief ministers—a list usually dominated by leaders such as Sikkim’s Pawan Kumar Chamling and Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik.

He took oath at a grand ceremony at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and several senior NDA leaders.

Early years

Born in 1951 in Bakhtiyarpur, Bihar, Kumar began his political journey during the JP (Jayaprakash Narayan) Movement. He contested his first Assembly election in 1977, though his first victory came in 1985. Over the course of his nearly 50-year political career, his shifting alliances have earned him the nickname ‘Paltu Ram’, while his governance record has also brought him the moniker ‘Sushashan Babu’.

With his latest term, Kumar joins the ranks of India’s longest-serving chief ministers. The list includes:

India’s Longest-Serving Chief Ministers

  1. Pawan Kumar Chamling, Sikkim – 25+ years (12 December 1994 – 26 May 2019)
  2. Naveen Patnaik, Odisha – 24+ years (5 March 2000 – 11 June 2024)
  3. Jyoti Basu, West Bengal – 23+ years (21 June 1977 – 5 November 2000)
  4. Gegong Apang, Arunachal Pradesh – 22+ years (1980–1999; 2003–2007)
  5. Lal Thanhawla, Mizoram – 22+ years (1984–1986; 1989–1998; 2008–2018)
  6. Virbhadra Singh, Himachal Pradesh – 21+ years (1983–2017 across multiple terms)
  7. Manik Sarkar, Tripura – 19+ years (11 March 1998 – 9 March 2018)
  8. Nitish Kumar, Bihar – 19 years (across multiple terms since 2000)
  9. M. Karunanidhi, Tamil Nadu – 18+ years (1969–2011 across multiple terms)
  10. Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab – 18+ years (1970–2017 across multiple terms)

With yet another term underway, Nitish Kumar cements his place in political history, both as Bihar’s longest-serving chief minister and as one of India’s most enduring political figures.