He is not a member of Vidhan Sabha or Legislative Council. Still, he has been working as a minister for more than six months! This time the Supreme Court questioned Bihar Panchayat Minister Deepak Prakash’s ministry.
The Supreme Court has sought a response from the Bihar government in view of a public interest litigation filed by a social worker. The case has been listed for urgent hearing in August
Chief Justice Surya Kant said, “This is a purely legal matter. The state government has to explain how a minister can remain in office for more than six months without winning an election.”
Bihar panchayat minister Deepak Prakash’s continued tenure despite not winning the election has created legal complications.
On 15 April (2026), Chief Minister Nitish Kumar resigned. Deepak Prakash’s tenure in the Nitish cabinet was four months and 26 days. Nitish Kumar’s resignation also ended the ministry of publicity. He did not hold any ministerial post for the next 22 days.
Then on 7 May (2026) Samrat Chowdhury formed a new government in Bihar. Prakash also got appointed there. Despite not winning the election, Deepak Prakash took oath as a minister again.
On 30 May 2026, a case was filed in the Supreme Court challenging Deepak Prakash’s ministerial appointment. The petition sought to declare Deepak’s appointment as minister illegal. Deepak Prakash is alleged to have ‘betrayed the Constitution’.
It may be noted that Prakash was a minister for more than six months despite not being elected to the Parliament or the Legislative Assembly.
Article 164(4) of the Constitution gives an additional period of six months to a minister appointed to be elected Prime Minister or Chief Minister. “If a minister is not a member of the state assembly for six consecutive months, he shall not hold office after the expiry of that period,” it said. That is, if a minister does not win the election within six months, he has to resign.
However, Deepak Prakash is a little different. He was not in the ministry for six consecutive months.
He was a minister for four months and 26 days under Nitish Kumar. Which falls within these six months. The current chief minister, Samrat Chowdhury, has been in office for only a few months after being reappointed. But all told, he served as minister for more than six months without winning the election. So it’s quite an interesting thing.
Ministers and Chief Ministers who are not members of an assembly constituency often invoke Article 164(4) of the Constitution. The usual practice in this regard is for the elected MLA from a ‘safe seat’ to resign so that the minister can contest a by-election from that seat.
Ministers and Chief Ministers have often opted for the Legislative Council route to meet the condition of being elected within six months. In 2019, Uddhav Thackeray became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra without becoming an MLA. He was later elected to the state legislature.
Tirth Singh Rawat, who will take over as the chief minister of Uttarakhand in 2021, resigned just before the end of his six-month tenure. Because by-elections were difficult due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Even former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda was elected to the Rajya Sabha after becoming Prime Minister.
A minister winning an election within months of taking office is not a matter of controversy. But the same minister can take this special six-month period twice?
Is it permissible for a minister to resign before the expiry of the six month period and take charge again a few days later and claim that the six month period starts from the date of swearing in?
This ambiguity in the interpretation of the law will only be clarified by the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Deepak Prakash case.