Bihar Political Shake-Up: Who Will Be the Next Bihar CM As Nitish Kumar Steps Down, Check Top Contenders List Here

BIHAR ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2026: Nitish Kumar stepped down from the Bihar legislative council today, just weeks after winning a Rajya Sabha seat this month.

This comes only four months after he started his record-breaking tenth term as Chief Minister, following the NDA’s landslide win in last year’s state elections.

Nitish Kumar Steps Down

Who’s going to take over as Bihar’s Chief Minister now that Nitish is heading to the Upper House? Everyone’s talking about the BJP, since they grabbed the most seats in the Assembly, 89 out of 243, while JDU picked up 85.

Sources say the BJP is likely to lead the new government, and the JD(U) will probably get two Deputy Chief Ministers as part of a deal.

BIHAR CM POST: TOP CONTENDERS 

There’s also buzz about Nitish Kumar’s son, Nishant Kumar, possibly stepping into politics for the first time. People think he could be in line for a Deputy Chief Minister slot, even though he’s kept out of the spotlight all these years.

Samrat Choudhary, Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister, has become the BJP’s leading contender to take over from Nitish Kumar as State Chief Minister. Earlier this month, he sat down with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in West Bengal, where elections are underway, to hash out Bihar’s political situation.

Nityanand Rai, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, also has a strong shot. People say he’s especially close to Amit Shah. With his roots in the powerful OBC Yadav community, Rai seems well-positioned to erode the RJD’s core support.

Digha MLA Sanjeev Chaurasia’s name has been thrown into the ring too. His father, Ganga Prasad Chaurasia, helped start the BJP in Bihar and served as Sikkim’s Governor, so political legacy is definitely on his side.

There’s buzz around other candidates as well. Janak Ram, Bihar’s Minister for SC/ST Welfare from Gopalganj, represents both the EBC and the Dalit community groups seen as crucial in Bihar’s power play.

Industry Minister Dilip Jaiswal, once the State BJP chief, comes from the Vaishya community in Kishanganj. That gives him his own base of support in the border region.

Parihar MLA Gayatri Devi (a Yadav), and upper-caste leaders Nitish Mishra and Mangal Pandey, are also seen as leading prospects in the race for Chief Minister. The field’s wide open, and each contender brings something unique to the table.

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