Who will be the next Chief Minister of Bihar? It depends on which alliance wins the 2025 Bihar elections. The Mahagadhbandhan, or the INDIA bloc, has already announced RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as the CM face of the alliance.
However, the suspense continues over the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) CM face, with many speculating whether it will be Nitish Kumar or if the BJP will announce its own chief minister candidate this time.
While an official announcement from the BJP and JD(U)-led NDA is awaited, some names from the BJP fold are also being floated for the top post.
Should BJP declare its own CM face or choose Nitish Kumar? Opinion poll reveals…
An opinion poll released on 1 November suggests that Tejashwi Yadav, rather than Nitish Kumar, is the most preferred CM candidate among voters.
When asked if the BJP should announce Nitish Kumar as the CM face, the State Vibe poll showed that the majority of 33% of those surveyed said the party should declare its own CM face, and only 24% were satisfied with Nitish Kumar’s work.
It, however, indicated that 56% of respondents believed that Nitish Kumar’s tenure as the CM was better than that of RJD supremo Lalu Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi.
Meet Top CM contenders in Bihar Election 2025:
Nitish Kumar: ‘Sushasan Babu’ or ‘Paltu Ram’
If the NDA wins the Bihar Election 2025, many believe that Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar is among the top contenders for the CM post.
Nitish Kumar is the longest-serving Chief Minister of Bihar.
He has been the CM of Bihar since 2005, except for the period when Jitan Ram Manjhi was the chief minister for 278 days. Before this, Nitish Kumar had held the CM post for seven days in 2000.
Better known as the ‘Sushasan Babu’ of Bihar, Nitish Kumar is also dubbed “Paltu Ram” by many political leaders for switching alliances quite often. The last time he jumped ship was in 2024, just before the Lok Sabha Election that year.
Nitish Kumar was born on 1 March 1951 in Bakhtiyarpur, near Patna, Bihar. He gained popularity by being part of the JP movement, a student-led protest against Indira Gandhi’s Emergency.
In the 1970s, he joined the Janata Party, an anti-Congress coalition formed in the aftermath of the Emergency.
In 1985, he was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly for the first time. Nitish Kumar later co-founded the Samata Party with George Fernandes after splitting from Janata Dal.
In 1996, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Barh seat. He also served as the Union Minister for Railways in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister of Bihar for the first time with the BJP’s support in 2000. He resigned after seven days, having failed to secure a majority.
Tejashwi Yadav: Cricketer-turned-politician
Tejashwi Yadav is the CM candidate for the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar. He served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar when Nitish Kumar severed ties with the NDA and joined hands with the RJD-Congress-led Mahagathbandhan in 2022.
Tejashwi Yadav was born in Patna to Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi, both former chief ministers of Bihar.
He pursued cricket, playing as a middle-order batsman for Delhi’s Ranji Trophy team. He also played for the Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) in the IPL (2008-2009).
Tejashwi joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 2010. He actively participated in the 2010 Bihar Assembly elections and the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, though without holding any formal post.
In 2015, Tejashwi contested the Raghopur seat in the Vaishali district in the Bihar Assembly elections. He won the seat once represented by his mother Rabri Devi and father Lalu Prasad Yadav.
At 26, Tejashwi became the Deputy CM for the first time in 2015 in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet, after the Mahagathbandhan’s (RJD-JD(U)-Congress) victory.
He became the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly in July 2017 when Nitish Kumar broke away from the Grand Alliance and rejoined the BJP-led NDA.
In the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD emerged as the single largest party (75 seats), although the NDA retained power narrowly.
In 2022, Nitish Kumar again switched alliances by snapping ties with the BJP and rejoining the Mahagathbandhan, forming a new government. Tejashwi then became the Deputy Chief Minister again.
Tejashwi returned to the Opposition in 2024 when Nitish Kumar again ditched his Mahagathbandhan to form a government with the BJP.
Tejashwi Yadav currently leads the Mahagathbandhan as its Chief Ministerial candidate in the Bihar Assembly Elections 2025.
Other Bihar CM contenders
In late September, a C-Voter survey showed that 9.5% preferred Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) Chirag Paswan as the CM candidate, while 6.8% showed BJP’s Samrat Chaudhary as the CM candidate.
Chirag Paswan is currently the Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, and Samrat Chaudhary is the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.
Who is likely to win the Bihar Election 2025?
An opinion released on 25 October showed a neck-and-neck fight between the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan.
While 34.7% of the respondents believed Mahagathbandhan would win the Bihar Elections 2025, 34.4% predicted that the NDA would win. As many as 8.4% predicted hung assembly.
Another survey released on 8 October had revealed 41.3% were likely to vote for the NDA and 39% for the Mahagadhbandhan.
Bihar Election 2025
The polling for phase one of the Bihar elections began on 6 November with great enthusiasm, as people queued up to cast their votes at various polling booths across the state.
According to the Election Commission, there are 10.72 lakh ‘new electors’, and 7.78 lakh voters are in the age group of 18-19 years. The total population of these constituencies, as stated by the Election Commission, is 6.60 crore.
There are a total of 122 women candidates in the fray in the first phase of polls.
Jan Suraj Party fielded 119 candidates in this phase. Within NDA, JD(U) is contesting 57 seats, followed by BJP on 48 and LJP (Ram Vilas) on 14.
Among the Mahagathbandhan constituents, the RJD is contesting 73 seats in the first phase, followed by 24 from Congress and 14 from CPI(ML). There will be a friendly fight for a few seats among Mahagathbandhan constituents.
Among the major parties, the Janata Dal (United) bagged 43 seats and the Congress 19. The JD(U) had contested 115 constituencies and the BJP 110, whereas the RJD contested 144 seats and the Congress 70.
In the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, polling took place in three phases. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured 125 seats, while the opposition Mahagathbandhan (MGB) won 110.