Bihar Assembly Elections 2015: Know your leader Profile- Nitish Kumar

22nd Chief Minister of Bihar and Janata Dal United Chief Nitish Kumar, who has ruled the state from last 10 years, is all set to face one of the most challenging phase of his political career in the upcoming assembly elections.

Although he is not contesting the polls, but despite several setbacks, Nitish is quite optimistic about achieving the hattrick, this time. Bihar will face five-phase assembly polls on Oct 12, Oct 16, Oct 28, Nov 1, Nov 5. The poll results will be declared on Nov 8, Sunday.

Let's take a look at the brief profile of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Date and place of birth: March 1, 1951, Bakhtiarpur, Patna district, Bihar

Family history: Nitish Kumar belongs to Kurmi caste. His parents are Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh and Parmeshwari Devi. Kumar's father, Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh was a freedom fighter as well as an Ayurvedic Vaidyaraj.

Kumar's father left the Indian National Congress to join the Janata Party, as he was denied party ticket to contest 1952 and 1957 general elections.

Kumar graduated in mechanical engineering from Bihar College of Engineering, Patna.

Kumar's wife Manju Kumari Sinha passed away in 2007 and he has a son Nishant, who pursued engineering from the BIT, Mesra, Jharkhand.

Political career: After participating in the stalwart Jayaprakash Narayan's movement in 1974 to 1977, Nitish made his debut in political world in 1980 Bihar elections.

In 1985, he was first elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly as an independent candidate.

In 1987, Nitish became the President of the Yuva Lok Dal and in 1989, he became the Secretary-General of the Janata Dal.

After working with the RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav, both parted ways and Nitish founded Samata Party in 1994.

Kumar was first elected to Lok Sabha in 1989 and he served as the Minister of Surface Transport (1998 to 1999), Minister of Agriculture (1999 to 2001) and Minister of Railways (1998 to 1999 and 2001 to 2004).

Performance as Bihar CM: Currently, serving as the 22nd Bihar Chief Minister for the second term, Nitish took first oath as the Bihar CM in 2000, but his first stint was short-termed that lasted only for a week because of lack of majority. Then, the RJD formed the government with Rabri Devi as the state's chief minister.

In 2005 Bihar assembly elections, Nitish's JD(U) formed the government and since then, he has transformed Bihar from a backward state to one of the best-governed states in terms of development, infrastructure and most importantly, the crime also reduced under his rule.

Besides, Nitish has introduced various schemes related to education and employment in rural areas.

In his second term, some of the notable achievements of Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) government in Bihar are- Jankari scheme, E-shakti NREGS program, bicycle and meal programs (that led to fall in school drop out rates), 50% reservation in electorals to women and extremely backward castes, health schemes and loan schemes for farmers.

In 2010 Bihar assembly elections, Nitish Kumar swept to power with its former ally BJP. The JD(U)-BJP alliance won 206 seats while Lalu's RJD had to face an embarrassing defeat with just 22 seats.