New Bihar Govt to take oath on November 20

The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar has firmed up plans to grant record representation to women in the Council of Ministers even as the oath-taking ceremony is scheduled for November 20.

Speaking to The Tribune today, JD(U) secretary general KC Tyagi said Nitish Kumar would again take oath as the Chief Minister. This will mark Nitish’s record 10th term as the Chief Minister. At least two Deputy CMs are likely to be sworn in and both may be from the BJP, in line with the arrangement in the outgoing Cabinet.

On Tuesday, the MLAs of all NDA partners — BJP, JD(U), LJP(RV), HAM and RLM — will meet in Patna to elect their leader. After that, the NDA legislature party will meet to elect the Chief Minister.

Tyagi confirmed to The

Tribune that all NDA partners had consented to boost women empowerment through enhanced Cabinet representation this time.

“Women representation is bound to increase substantially and about seven to eight of them could be sworn in. It’s an era of women empowerment and woman power was there for all to witness in the form of heavy female voter turnout. Also, the much-awaited women reservation Bill setting aside one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies for women is expected to be passed in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term,” said Tyagi.

Proposals are also being discussed to grant one ministerial berth after every four to six MLAs in the state. This will mean 14 ministers each from the BJP (89 seats) and the JD(U) (85), three from the LJP(RV) (19) and one each from the HAM and the RLM (five and four seats, respectively).

“There is no finality yet on the composition of the Cabinet. But there is anticipation that the HAM and the RLM will get a berth each…. We have never asked for anything,” said Jitan Ram Manjhi of the HAM after meeting BJP poll in charge for Bihar and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Delhi.

Manjhi confirmed that the oath-taking was planned for November 20, with Nitish holding the last meeting of the outgoing Bihar Cabinet today before recommending dissolution of the Assembly to Governor Arif Mohammad Khan. Till the oath-taking of the new government, Nitish will serve as the caretaker CM.

Women remained at the centre stage in the 2025 Bihar elections, with 28 of the 88 fielded by various parties emerging victorious. This is a strike rate of 36 per cent. The BJP fielded 12 women, of whom 10 won. The JD(U) named 13, with nine winning their seats.