Chief minister (India)

In India, a chief minister is the elected head of government of each state out of the 28 states and sometimes a union territory (UT). Currently, only the UTs of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry have serving chief ministers. According to the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister.

Following elections to the State legislative assembly or Vidhan Sabha in a state, the state's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints and swears in the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Based on the Westminster system, given that they retain the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term can last for the length of the assembly's life, a maximum of five years. There are no limits to the number of terms that the chief minister can serve. A chief minister heads a state government's council of ministers and can be deputised in that role by a deputy chief minister. The chief minister generally selects the chief secretary and can also allot departments to the cabinet ministers of their state and ministers of state. They also direct the chief secretary to transfer, suspend, or promote officers of their state.

The chief minister usually serves as the leader of the house in the respective legislative assembly.

Of the 31 incumbents, Seventeen incumbents belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party and four to the Indian National Congress, with no other party having more than one chief minister in office. Neiphiu Rio from Nagaland, has had the longest tenure () as a chief minister. Pema Khandu of Arunachal Pradesh, serving since 16 July 2016 (for ), has the longest continuous incumbency. Mizoram's Lalduhoma (aged ) is the oldest and Pema Khandu (aged ), from Arunachal Pradesh is the youngest. Delhi's Rekha Gupta is the only incumbent female chief minister. As of , 20 states and 2 union territories are run by the National Democratic Alliance, 6 states and 1 union territory by INDIA, 2 states have no alliance, and 5 union territories have no legislature.

Eligibility The Constitution of India sets the principle qualifications one must meet to be eligible to the office of chief minister. A chief minister must be:

a citizen of India. should be a member of the state legislature of 25 years of age or moreConstitution of India, Article 173

An individual who is not a member of the legislature can be considered the chief minister provided they get themselves elected to the State Legislature within six months from the date of their appointment. Failing which, they would cease to be the chief minister.

Election The chief minister is elected through a majority in the state legislative assembly. This is procedurally established by the vote of confidence in the legislative assembly, as suggested by the governor of the state who is the appointing authority. They are elected for five years.The Constitution of India article 164, clause 1 The chief minister holds office at the pleasure of the governor.

Oath Since, according to the constitution, the chief minister is appointed by the governor, the swearing in ceremony is held before the governor of the state.

The oath of office

The oath of secrecy

Resignation In the event of a chief minister's resignation, which conventionally occurs after a general election or during a phase of assembly majority transition, the outgoing chief minister holds the informal title of "caretaker" chief minister until the governor either appoints a new chief minister or dissolves the assembly. Since the post is not constitutionally defined, the caretaker chief minister enjoys all the powers of a regular chief minister, but cannot make any major policy decisions or cabinet changes during his or her short tenure as caretaker.

Remuneration

By Article 164 of the constitution of India, remuneration of the chief minister as well as other ministers are to be decided by the respective state legislatures.The Constitution of India, article 164, clause 5 Until the legislature of the state decides salary, it shall be as specified in the second schedule. The Constitution of India, Article 164, Clause 5 The salaries thus vary from state to state. As of 2026, the highest salary is drawn by chief ministers of Telangana, which is and lowest by the chief ministers of Tripura which is legally.

Current list

NDA: 22

INDIA: 6

None: 3 Legend Indicates that the chief minister was by- elected to the constituency he represents +List of chief ministersState/UTListPortraitOfficeholder Took office Political PartyNational AllianceState/UT Alliance (Regional Alliance)MinistryConstituencyElectionAppointed by Andhra PradeshList N. Chandrababu Naidu () TDP NDAKutami Naidu IVKuppam2024Syed Abdul Nazeer Arunachal PradeshList Pema Khandu () BJP rowspan="8" NEDA Khandu VMukto2024Kaiwalya Trivikram Parnaik AssamListHimanta Biswa Sarma()Sarma IIJalukbari2026Lakshman Acharya BiharList Samrat Choudhary () NDA ChoudharyTarapur2025Syed Ata Hasnain ChhattisgarhList Vishnu Deo Sai () SaiKunkuri2023Biswabhusan Harichandan DelhiList Rekha Gupta () GuptaShalimar Bagh2025V. K. Saxena GoaList Pramod Sawant () Sawant IISanquelim2022P. S. Sreedharan Pilliai GujaratList Bhupendrabhai Patel () Patel IIGhatlodia2022Acharya Devvrat HaryanaList Nayab Singh Saini () Saini IILadwa2024Bandaru Dattatreya Himachal PradeshList Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu () INC INDIAINDIA SukhuNadaun2022Rajendra Arlekar Jammu and KashmirList Omar Abdullah () JKNC JKNC-led INDIA Abdullah IIGanderbul2024Manoj Sinha JharkhandList Hemant Soren () JMM MGB Soren IVBarhi2024Santosh Kumar Gangwar Karnataka List D. K. Shivakumar ()INC INDIA ShivakumarKanakapura2023 Thawar Chand Gehlot Keralam List V. D. Satheesan () UDF SatheesanParavur2026 Rajendra Arlekar Madhya Pradesh List Mohan Yadav () BJP rowspan="3" NDANDA YadavUjjain South2023Mangubhai C. Patel Maharashtra List Devendra Fadnavis () MY Fadnavis IIINagpur South West2024 C. P. Radhakrishnan ManipurList Yumnam Khemchand Singh ()NEDA SinghSingjamei2022Ajay Kumar Bhalla MeghalayaList Conrad Sangma () NPP MDA (NEDA) Sangma IISouth Tura2023Phagu Chauhan MizoramList Lalduhoma () ZPM NoneNone LalduhomaSerchhip2023Kambhampati Hari Babu NagalandList Neiphiu Rio () NPF NDAPDA (NEDA) Rio VNorthern Angami II2023La. Ganesan OdishaList Mohan Charan Majhi () BJP NDA MajhiKeonjhar2024Raghubar Das PuducherryList N. Rangaswamy () AINRC AINRC+Rangasamy VMangalam2026Kuniyil Kailashnathan PunjabList Bhagwant Mann() AAP NoneNone MannDhuri2022Banwarilal Purohit RajasthanList Bhajan Lal Sharma () BJP NDANDA SharmaSanganer2023Kalraj Mishra SikkimList Prem Singh Tamang () SKM NEDA Tamang IIRhenock2024Lakshman Acharya Tamil NaduListC. Joseph Vijay()TVK NoneTVK+VijayPerambur2026Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar TelanganaList Revanth Reddy () INC INDIA INDIA ReddyKodangal2023Tamilisai Soundrararajan TripuraList Manik Saha ()BJP rowspan="4" NDANEDA Saha IITown Bordowali2023Satyadev Narayan Arya Uttar PradeshList Yogi Adityanath ()NDA Yogi IIGorakhpur Urban 2022Anandiben Patel UttarakhandList Pushkar Singh Dhami () Dhami IIChampawat2022Gurmit Singh West BengalList Suvendu Adhikari () AdhikariBhabanipur2026R. N. Ravi

Deputy chief minister The deputy chief minister is a member of the state government and usually the second highest ranking executive officer of their state's council of ministers. While not a constitutional office, it seldom carries any specific powers. In the parliamentary system of government, the chief minister is treated as the "first among equals" in the cabinet; the position of deputy chief minister is used to bring political stability and strength within a coalition government. The position of deputy chief minister is not explicitly defined or mentioned in the Constitution of India. However, the Supreme Court of India has stated that the appointment of deputy chief ministers is not unconstitutional. The court has clarified that a deputy chief minister, for all practical purposes, remains a minister in the council of ministers headed by the chief minister and does not draw a higher salary or perks compared to other ministers.

Various states throughout the history have appointed deputy chief ministers. 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 the central government of India. During the absence of the chief minister, the deputy-chief minister 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.

Currently, only 17 states and 1 union territory (out of 28 states and 3 union territories) have deputy chief ministers. Out of these, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have two deputy chief ministers each. No other state and union territory has more than one deputy chief minister in office.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fifteen incumbents, the Indian National Congress has three, the Naga People's Front, Janata Dal (United) and the National People's Party have two incumbents, the Jana Sena Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena and the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference has one incumbent each. Of the 28 incumbents, four are woman — Sunetra Pawar in Maharashtra, Nemcha Kipgen in Manipur,Pravati Parida in Odisha & Diya Kumari in Rajasthan. The longest-serving incumbent deputy chief minister is Chowna Mein, who has served as the deputy chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh since 17 July 2016 (for ). As of , one state (Uttarakhand) and one union territory (Puducherry) have never had a deputy chief minister.

Current list StateListPortrait Officeholder Took office PartyChief Minister Chief Minister's PartyState/UT Alliance (Regional Alliance)National Alliance RefAndhra Pradesh ListKonidela Pawan Kalyan JSPN. Chandrababu NaiduTDPKutamiNDAArunachal Pradesh ListChowna Mein BJPPema KhanduBJP NDA (NEDA)Arunachal Pradesh Cabinet MinistersBiharListBijendra Prasad Yadav JD (U)Samrat ChaudharyNDA Vijay Kumar Chaudhary Chhattisgarh ListArun Sao BJPVishnu Deo Sai Vijay Sharma GujaratListHarsh Rameshbhai Sanghavi Bhupendrabhai PatelHimachal PradeshListMukesh Agnihotri INCSukhvinder Singh SukhuINCINDIA INDIA Jammu and Kashmir List Surinder Kumar Choudhary JKNC Omar Abdullah JKNC JKNC-led INDIA KarnatakaListG. Parameshwara INCD. K. ShivakumarINCINDIAMadhya PradeshListRajendra ShuklaBJPMohan YadavBJPNDANDAJagdish DevdaMaharashtraListEknath Sambhaji Shinde SHSDevendra FadnavisMYMaharashtra Cabinet Expansion Sunetra Ajit Pawar NCPManipur ListNemcha Kipgen BJPY. Khemchand SinghNDA (NEDA)Losii DikhoNPFMeghalaya ListPrestone Tynsong NPPConrad SangmaNPPMDA (NEDA)Sniawbhalang Dhar Nagaland ListYanthungo Patton BJPNeiphiu RioNPFPDA (NEDA)Taditui Rangkau Zeliang NPFOdisha ListKanak Vardhan Singh Deo BJPMohan Charan MajhiBJPNDAPravati ParidaRajasthan ListDiya Kumari Bhajan Lal SharmaPrem Chand BairwaTelangana ListMallu Bhatti Vikramarka INCRevanth ReddyINCINDIAUttar PradeshListKeshav Prasad Maurya BJPYogi Adityanath BJPNDABrajesh Pathak

Chief minister (India)

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