Patna: Janata Dal United (JDU) chief Nitish Kumar will take oath as Bihar Chief Minister for a record 10th time on Thursday, November 20. The swearing-in ceremony will take place at Patna's historic Gandhi Maidan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and other prominent leaders of the NDA, including various chief ministers of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states, are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
According to reports, BJP's Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha will also take oath as Kumar's deputies for the second time. The new Bihar cabinet is likely to have 16 ministers from the BJP and 14 from the JD(U), reported NDTV, citing sources.
BJP's Prem Kumar is likely to be the Assembly Speaker. As per the report, Umesh Singh Kushwaha, Sunil Kumar, Lesi Singh, Sheila Mandal, Ratnesh Sada, Mohammad Zama Khan, Rahul Kumar Singh, Sudhanshu Shekhar, and Kaladhar Prasad Mandal are likely to be included in the new cabinet.
From the BJP, Mangal Pandey, Nitish Mishra, Surendra Mehta, Motil Lal Prasad, Kedar Prasad Gupta, Renu Devi, and Jibesh are also expected to take oath, reported the media house, citing sources.
NDA’s other ally, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) (LJPRV), is likely to have three berths in the cabinet, while smaller allies — Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAMS) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) — are likely to have one berth each.
In the recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections, the ruling alliance scored a landslide victory by winning 202 seats out of 243.
In the NDA, the BJP won 89 seats, the JD(U) won 85, the LJPRV won 19, the HAMS won five, and the RLM won four seats.
Among opposition parties, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) won 25 seats, the Indian National Congress (INC) six, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) [CPI(ML)(L)] two, the Indian Inclusive Party (IIP) one, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] one seat.
The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) secured five seats, while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won one seat.
The polls were held in two phases on November 6 and 11. The votes were counted on November 14.
