Patna: Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Bihar’s chief minister for the tenth time on Thursday at a packed Gandhi Maidan, where 26 ministers also took the oath of office and secrecy. Among them, Mohammad Jama Khan emerged as the only Muslim representative in the new cabinet—once again highlighting the NDA’s scant minority presence in the state’s leadership.
Khan, who represents the Chainpur constituency in Kaimur, secured his second consecutive victory by defeating RJD’s Brij Kishore Bind with a margin of 8,362 votes. He previously served as Bihar’s Minority Affairs Minister, and his return to the cabinet was widely anticipated.
Originally a leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Jama Khan first entered the Assembly in 2020 on the BSP’s ‘elephant’ symbol before joining the Janata Dal (United). His shift to JDU earned him a ministerial berth in the earlier Nitish government, a position he now retains.
NDA’s Only Muslim MLA
Despite Muslims winning 11 seats in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, the NDA secured just one Muslim MLA—Jama Khan himself.
JDU fielded five Muslim candidates, whereas the BJP did not nominate a single Muslim candidate this election cycle.
The remaining Muslim MLAs elected—five from AIMIM and others from opposition parties—sit outside the ruling coalition.
Full List: Who Else Was Inducted Into the Cabinet?
The cabinet sworn in alongside Nitish Kumar includes key leaders from both BJP and JDU:
- BJP: Samrat Chaudhary, Vijay Kumar Sinha, Dilip Jaiswal, Mangal Pandey, Ram Kripal Yadav, Arun Shankar Prasad, Rama Nishad, Nitin Nabin, Surendra Prasad Mehta
- JDU: Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Shravan Kumar, Ashok Chaudhary, Leshi Singh, Madan Sahni, Sunil Kumar, Mohammad Jama Khan
- HAM (S): Santosh Suman
- RLM: Deepak Prakash (son of Upendra Kushwaha)
