Patna: No chief minister in India has taken oath as many times as Nitish Kumar, who on Thursday was sworn in for an unprecedented 10th term, extending his nearly two-decade-long leadership of Bihar.

At 74, Kumar has now crossed 19 years in office, placing him among the country’s top 10 longest-serving chief ministers—a list usually dominated by leaders such as Sikkim’s Pawan Kumar Chamling and Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik.

He took oath at a grand ceremony at Patna ’s Gandhi Maidan in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and several senior NDA leaders.

Early years

Born in 1951 in Bakhtiyarpur, Bihar, Kumar began his political journey during the JP (Jayaprakash Narayan) Movement. He contested his first Assembly election in 1977, though his first victory c

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