Janata Dal-United (JD-U) supremo Nitish Kumar, who took oath as a member of the Rajya Sabha on Friday, is set to resign as the Chief Minister of Bihar on April 14, 2026 (Tuesday), and its expected that a new leader will be chosen for the state’s top post by the ruling NDA on the very next day on April 15 (Wednesday).
Nitish Kumar, Bihar’s longest-serving Chief Minister, resigned as a MLC on Monday, a fortnight after he was elected to the Rajya Sabha on March 16. The veteran leader is expected to step down as the Bihar CM soon as he heads to represent the NDA in the Upper House, leaving a gaping hole in Bihar’s politics, and speculations about who will replace him to the top post.
When will Nitish Kumar step down as Bihar CM?
Nitish Kumar, Bihar’s longest-serving Chief Minister, was sworn-in as the member of the Rajya Sabha on Friday (April 10), becoming the first sitting CM to be elected to the Upper House, and will now step down from the top post on April 14, following which the NDA will select his successor.
Earlier, Kumar resigned as a MLC on March 30, a fortnight after he was elected to the Rajya Sabha on March 16, as the Constitution mandates that a person elected to the Upper House must vacate their seat in the state legislature within a period of 14 days.
However, Constitutional provisions also allowed him to continue as chief minister for up to six months without being a member of either House in the state legislature, giving crucial time to the NDA to select his successor.
Why Bihar may get a CM on April 14?
The date holds significance in Bihar’s deeply caste-conscious landscape as it marks the birth anniversary of Dalit rights icon and one of the primary architects of the Indian Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar. Hence, its likely that the BJP-JDU combine may pick a successor for Nitish Kumar on the same day he steps down.
Additionally, the date also carries religious undertones as April 14 marks the end of Kharmas– a month-long period in the Hindu calendar considered inauspicious for taking major decisions, prominently observed across Bihar, Jharkhand and parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Who will replace Nitish Kumar as Bihar CM?
Among the prominent names floating around for the Bihar CM’s chair, frontrunners include current deputy chief minister and home minister Samrat Choudhary, Veteran BJP leader Dilip Jaiswal, who currently serves as Bihar’s Minister of industries and Road Construction, and Nitish Kumar’s son Nishant Kumar, who recently joined the JD-U after remaining aloof from politics for the better part of his adult life.
Notably, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the Vidhan Sabha for the first time, bagging 89 seats, while JD-U secured 85, as the NDA steamrolled through the 2025 Bihar Assembly Elections securing a brutal majority by winning 202 of 243 seats.
Nitish Kumar takes oath as Rajya Sabha MP
On Friday, Nitish Kumar, Bihar’s longest-serving CM, was sworn-in as a member of the Rajya Sabha by Vice President and chairman of the Upper House C P Radhakrishnan in his chamber at a brief ceremony.
Kumar took the oath in Hindi in the presence of Union Minister J P Nadda, who is also leader of the house, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal.
JDU leader and party’s working president Sanjay Kumar Jha and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, besides BJP MP and former union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy were among those present during the oath-taking.
