Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar resigned as the Bihar chief minister on Tuesday.
Soon after, the Bharatiya Janata Party unanimously elected Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary as its legislative party leader. Later in the day, he was also elected the leader of the National Democratic Alliance in the state.
He is expected to meet Governor Syed Ata Hasnain and stake claim to form the next government shortly.
Kumar’s resignation came after he was elected to the Upper House of Parliament on March 16 for the first time. He was sworn in as a Rajya Sabha MP on Friday.
Earlier on Tuesday, he recommended that the governor dissolve the Cabinet.
In a social media post, Kumar said that the new government in Bihar “will have my full cooperation and guidance”.
Choudhary will be the BJP’s first chief minister in Bihar.
Kumar had become the chief minister for the tenth time in November after the National Democratic Alliance won the Bihar Assembly polls, bagging 202 of the 243 seats.
While Kumar’s JD(U) had won 85 seats, almost doubling its tally of 43 seats from the 2020 polls, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 89 of the 101 constituencies it contested.
While announcing his candidature for the Rajya Sabha elections on March 5, Kumar had said that he had desired to serve in all four legislative roles at the state and central level – a member of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, as well as of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
He was a member of the Legislative Council and he had previously served as an MLA and a Lok Sabha MP.
On March 30, Kumar resigned as a member of the state’s Legislative Council. His current Legislative Council term, the fourth consecutive one, was to end in 2030.
The 1950 Prohibition of Simultaneous Membership Rules require a person elected to Parliament and a state legislature to resign from one within 14 days. Failure to do so leads to their parliamentary membership being automatically terminated.
However, Kumar had remained the chief minister for the past two weeks as Article 164(4) of the Constitution permits a person to hold the office for up to six months without being a member of the state legislature.
It had been speculated that he would step down as the chief minister after being elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Also read: ‘BJP’s use and throw’: Opposition leader on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s move to Rajya Sabha
You’ve read Scroll.
Now help sustain it
Scroll is funded by readers, not corporate owners. If you believe our work matters, support our newsroom. Become a member today!
We’re not driven by clicks or corporate interests – just honest, independent reporting. Keep us going. Support Scroll today!