Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the 32nd Chief Minister of Bihar for the second consecutive term at a function at the Gandhi Maidan here on Friday.
Governor Debanand Konwar administered the oath of office.
Mr. Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance, which contested the Assembly elections on the development platform, won the biggest-ever election victory in the State, bagging 206 of the 243 seats. The NDA's tally went up to 207, with Dilip Verma, an Independent from Sikta, joining the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday.
This is the third time Mr. Kumar has been elected Chief Minister — he became Chief Minister in 2005 when the NDA first came to power in the State, and in March 2000 when he held office for barely a week.
The swearing-in of Mr. Kumar was followed by that of BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi as Deputy Chief Minister, and 28 Cabinet Ministers.
Of the 29 Cabinet Ministers, including Mr. Modi, 19 were from the JD(U) and the rest from the BJP.
There were 10 new faces in the Cabinet, prominent among them being JD(U) State president Vijay Kumar Chaudhary; senior JD(U) leader Bhim Singh; social activist Parveen Amanullah and Attorney-General P.K. Shahi, who contested the elections on a JD(U) ticket. Ramai Ram and Shyam Rajak, formerly of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, were also rewarded with Cabinet berths.
Constitutional dilemma
The NDA landslide win, which left its rivals high and dry, has created a constitutional dilemma: for the first time in the State, none of these parties have secured the required number of seats to qualify as the main Opposition party.
As per the norms, a party must secure at least 10 per cent of the total number of the seats in the Assembly to qualify as the main Opposition. In the case of Bihar, this number is 24, with the Assembly having 243 seats.
However, the RJD-LJP alliance, led by Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan, won 25 seats (the RJD has bagged 22 seats and the LJP, in its worst-ever performance, has won three.)
Likewise, the Congress won a mere 4 seats, while the Left parties were all but wiped out, with their only winning seat going to the Communist Party of India.
