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One of the first people I met on the ground while covering the Assembly elections in Bihar had declared weeks ago that “Mukhyamantri Nitish Kumar hi banenge, baen se ya daen se.” Nitish Kumar will become chief minister again, one way or another.

This person was not a Janata Dal (United) loyalist. In fact, he did not intend to vote for the party’s candidate in his own constituency of Sheohar. What he said about Nitish was based on his assessment of the state’s overall political situation.

Back then, even the Bharatiya Janata Party, the JD(U)’s main ally in Bihar as well as at the Centre, was refusing to project the 74-year-old Nitish Kumar as the alliance’s chief ministerial face.

But Friday’s results have vindicated the Sheohar voter’s assessment and settled the chief minister debate within the National Democratic Alliance. The Janata Dal (United) looks set to emerge as the biggest gainer from the last Assembly elections. As in 2020 and in 2015 before that, Nitish Kumar remains at the centre of the state’s politics.

Here are five reasons why Bihar has once again put him there:

For a politician who has been chief minister for virtually all of the last 20 years, Nitish Kumar hardly evokes...

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