Government of Bihar

Bicameral
Emblem of Bihar
Seat of Government	Patna
Country	India
Website	state.bihar.gov.in
Legislative branch
Assembly	Bihar Legislative Assembly
Speaker of the House	Nand Kishore Yadav[1]
Deputy Speaker of the House	Narendra Narayan Yadav[2]
Members in Assembly	243
Council	Bihar Legislative Council
Chairperson of Council	Awadhesh Narain Singh
Members in Council	75(63 Elected + 12 Nominated)
Executive branch
Governor (Head of the State)	Arif Mohammed Khan
Chief Minister (Head of Government)	Nitish Kumar,  JD(U)
Deputy Chief Minister (Deputy Head of Government)	Vijay Kumar Sinha,  BJP Samrat Choudhary,  BJP
Chief Secretary (Head of Civil Service)	Pratyaya Amrit, (IAS)
Judiciary
High Court	Patna High Court
Chief Justice	Justice Sudhir Singh
Seat	53

Politics of Bihar
State Government Constitution
Legislature Legislative Assembly Member in Assembly - 243 Legislative Council Member in Council - 95
Executives President Chief Minister Deputy Chief Minister Cabinet
Judiciary High Court Chief Justice District Courts Panchayat
Elections General elections Assembly elections
Political Parties Bharatiya Janata Party Bahujan Samaj Party Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (Marxist) Indian National Congress Janata Dal (United) Nationalist Congress Party Rashtriya Janata Dal Samajwadi Party
Subdivisions Division - 9 Districts - 38 Sub-Divisions of Bihar - 101 Towns of Bihar - 130 Blocks in Bihar - 534 Panchayats in Bihar - 8,471 Villages in Bihar - 45,103
Other countries
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Bihar Government is thestate government of theIndian state ofBihar and its ninedivisions which consist ofdistricts. It consists of an executive, led by theGovernor of Bihar, ajudiciary andlegislative branches.

Like otherstates in India, the head of state of Bihar is theGovernor, appointed by thePresident of India on the advice of thecentral government. The head of state is largely ceremonial. TheChief Minister is the head of government and is vested with most of the executive powers.Patna is thecapital of Bihar hence, it serves as the headquarter for almost all the departments.

ThePatna High Court, located in Patna, has jurisdiction over the whole state. The present legislative structure of Bihar isbicameral. TheLegislative houses are theBihar Vidhan Sabha (Bihar Legislative Assembly) andBihar Vidhan Parishad (Bihar Legislative Council). Their normal term is five years, unless dissolved earlier.

TheGovernors of thestates of India have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of thePresident of India at Union level. Governors exist in thestates while lieutenant governors or administrator exist inunion territories. According to theConstitution of India, theGovernor is a state's head, butde facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. The governor acts as the nominal head whereas the real power lies with theChief ministers of the states^{[citation needed]} and his/her councils of ministers. The Governor of a State is appointed by the President of India. The factors based on which the President evaluates the candidates is not mentioned in the Constitution.^[3] In his ex-officio capacity, the Governor of Bihar is Chancellor of the universities of Bihar (at present 12) as per the Acts of the Universities.

In theRepublic of India, achief minister is the electedhead of government of the each state out of 28^[4] states and sometimes a union territory (currently, only the UTs ofDelhi andPuducherry have serving Chief Ministers). Following elections to theBihar Legislative Assembly, the governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whosecouncil of ministers arecollectively responsible to the assembly. Given that he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to noterm limits.^[5]

In 1946 First Cabinet of Bihar formed; consisting^[6] of two members, Dr.Sri Krishna Sinha as firstChief Minister of Bihar and Dr.Anugrah Narayan Sinha^[7] as Bihar's firstDeputy Chief Minister cum Finance^[8] Minister (also in charge of Labour, Health, Agriculture and Irrigation). Other ministers were inducted later. The cabinet served as the first Bihar Government after independence in 1947. From 1946, 23 people have been Chief Minister of Bihar. The inaugural holder wasSri Krishna Sinha of theIndian National Congress, he also has the longest incumbency. The current incumbent isNitish Kumar who is having incumbency since 22 February 2015.

Despite being not mentioned in the constitution or law, the Deputy-Chief minister office is often used to pacify factions within the party or coalition. It is similar to the rarely used Deputy-Prime minister post in Central government of India. During the absence of the Chief minister, the deputy-CM may chair cabinet meetings and lead the Assembly majority. Various deputy chief ministers have also taken the oath of secrecy in line with the one that chief minister takes. This oath has also sparked controversies.^[9][10]

The government is headed by the governor who appoints the chief minister and his council of ministers. The governor is appointed for five years and acts as the constitutional head of the state. Even though the governor remains the ceremonial head of the state, the day-to-day running of the government is taken care of by the chief minister and his council of ministers in whom a great deal of legislative powers is vested.. The secretariat headed by the secretary to the governor assists the council of ministers. The council of ministers consists of cabinet ministers, ministers of state and deputy ministers. The chief minister is assisted by the chief secretary, who is the head of the administrative services.

State governments in India are the governments rulingstates of India and thechief minister heads the state government.^[11] Power isdivided between union government and state governments.^[12] State government's legislature isbicameral in6 states andunicameral in the rest.^[13] Bihar is one of the six states where bicameral legislature exists. Otherstates areUttar Pradesh,Karnataka,Maharashtra,Telangana andAndhra Pradesh. TheBihar Legislative Council isVidhan Parishad serves as the upper house andBihar Legislative Assembly isVidhan Sabha serves as the lower house of thebicameral legislature of theIndian state ofBihar. Lower house is elected with 5 years term, while in upper house 1/3 of the total members in the house gets elected every two years with six-year term.

The Vidhan Sabha is also known as Legislative Assembly. The Bihar Legislative Assembly first came into being in 1937 and not a permanent body and subject to dissolution. The tenure of theLegislative Assembly is five years from the date appointed for its first sitting unless dissolved sooner. Members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected by the people. There are three sessions (Budget session, Monsoon session, Winter session) every year. The Sessions of Legislative Assembly are presided by Speaker. The Speaker certifies that whether a bill is ordinary bill or money bill. Generally he does not participate in voting but he casts his vote in the case of tie. The current strength of the House is 243.

TheVidhan Parishad is also known as Legislative Council. Bihar Legislative Council is a permanent body and not subject to dissolution. But as nearly as possible, one-third of the members thereof retire as soon as may be on the expiration of every second year. Members are now elected or nominated for six years and one-third of them retire every second year. The presiding officers of Vidhan Parishad are now known as chairman and Deputy Chairman. Members of the upper house, theLegislative Council are indirectly elected through an electoral college. There are 27 Committees which are, at present, functional in the council. Besides, there are three Financial Committees consisting of the members of the two Houses of the State Legislature.

ThePatna High Court (Hindi:पटना उच्च न्यायालय) is theHigh Court of thestate of Bihar. ThePatna High Court is the principal court of the state ofBihar. However, a high court exercises its original civil and criminal jurisdiction only if the subordinate courts are not authorized by law to try such matters for lack of pecuniary, territorial jurisdiction. High courts may also enjoy original jurisdiction in certain matters, if so designated Specially in a state or federal law It was established on February 3, 1916, and later affiliated under theGovernment of India Act 1915 (5 & 6 Geo. 5. c. 61). The court is headquartered in Patna, the administrativecapital of thestate. A proclamation was made by the Governor-General of India on 22 March 1912. The foundation-stone of the High Court Building was laid on 1 December 1913 by the late Viceroy and Governor-General of India,Sir Charles Hardinge of Penshurst. The Patna High Court building on its completion was formally opened by thesame Viceroy on 3 February 1916. Hon. Sir JusticeEdward Maynard Des Champs Chamier was the first Chief Justice of Patna High Court. This High Court has given twoChief Justices of India: Hon'ble Mr. JusticeBhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha, the 6thC.J.I., and Hon. Mr. JusticeLalit Mohan Sharma, the 24th C.J.I.. Hon. Mr JusticeK. Vinod Chandran is the current Chief Justice of Patna High Court.Patna High Court has strength of 53 Judges which includes 40 permanent and 13 additional judges.

TheDistrict Courts ofIndia are thedistrict courts of theState governments in India for every district or for one or more districts together taking into account of the number of cases, population distribution in the district. They administer justice in India at adistrict level. Bihar has37 district courts in total.^[14]

The Civil Court/District Court is judged by District and Sessions Judge. It is the principal court oforiginalcivil jurisdiction besides the High Court of the State and which derives its jurisdiction in civil matters primarily from the code of civil procedure. The district court is also a court of sessions when it exercises its jurisdiction on criminal matters under theCode of Criminal Procedure. The district court is presided over by a district judge appointed by the state governor with on the advice of chief justice of that high court. In addition to the district judge there are a number of additional district and sessions judges and assistant district judges. The additional district judge and the court presided over by the additional district judge have equivalent rank, status and jurisdiction as the district judge and presiding court.^[15] Assistant sessions judge is subordinate to the district judge and additional(s).

India has aquasi-federal form of government, called "union" or "central" government,^[16] with elected officials at the union, state and local levels. At the national level, thehead of government, theprime minister, is appointed by thepresident of India from the party or coalition that has the majority of seats in theLok Sabha. The members of theLok Sabha (Center) andBihar Vidhan Sabha are directly elected for a term of five years byuniversal adult suffrage through afirst-past-the-post voting system. Members of theRajya Sabha, which represents thestates, are elected by the members of State legislative assemblies byproportional representation, except for 12 members who are nominated by the president. InBihar Vidhan Parishad, 1/3 of the total members in the house gets elected every 2 years with 6-year term.^[17]

As of 2023,^[update] there are two main political formations: theNational Democratic Alliance (NDA) which comprisesBharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian People's Party),Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) (LJP (RV)) andRashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP); and a second alliance betweenRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD, National People's Party),Hindustani Awam Morcha,Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal andIndian National Congress (INC). There are many other political formations. TheCommunist Party of India had a strong presence in Bihar at one time, which has since weakened.^[18] TheCommunist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M) and CPM andAll India Forward Bloc (AIFB) have a minor presence, along with the other extreme leftist parties.^[19]

Local governments function at the basic level. It is the third level of government apart from union and state governments. It consists ofpanchayats in rural areas andmunicipalities in urban areas. They are elected directly or indirectly by the people. Structurally Bihar is divided intodivisions (Pramandal),districts (Zila),sub-divisions (Anumandal) & circles (Aanchal).The state is divided into nine divisions, 38 districts, 101 subdivisions and 534 circles.^[20] 17 municipal corporations, 84 Nagar Parishads and 151 Nagar Panchayats,^{[21][22][23][24][25]} for administrative purposes.

• Information and Public Relations Department, Bihar

• Administration in Bihar
• List of deputy chief ministers of Bihar
• Government of India
• Bihar Economic Survey
• Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority

• Official website

• Government of Bihar

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