The Karnataka Council of Ministers is the executive wing of the Government of Karnataka and is headed by the Chief Minister of Karnataka, who is the head of government and leader of the state cabinet. The term of every executive wing is for 5 years. The council of ministers are assisted by bureaucrats headed by the respective department secretaries often from the Indian Administrative Service (Karnataka Cadre). The chief executive officer responsible for issuing orders on behalf of the Government is the Chief Secretary to the state government.

Constitutional requirement

For the Council of Ministers to aid and advise Governor According to Article 163 of the Constitution of India, there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at the head to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his functions. Ministers serve under the pleasure of the Governor and may be removed on the advice of the Chief Minister.

For other provisions as to Ministers According to Article 164 of the Constitution of India, the Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. The Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State. A Minister who is not a member of the Legislature for any period of six consecutive months shall cease to be a Minister.

The 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003 inserted Article 164(1A), which caps the total number of ministers, including the Chief Minister, at 15 per cent of the total number of members of the Legislative Assembly, with a minimum of twelve ministers. For Karnataka's 224-member Assembly, this places the maximum cabinet size at 34 ministers.

Chief Minister

The Chief Minister of Karnataka is the real head of the government and responsible for state administration. He is the leader of the parliamentary party in the legislature and heads the state cabinet. The current Chief Minister is D. K. Shivakumar, who was sworn in on 3 June 2026 following the resignation of Siddaramaiah. On 30 May 2026, Shivakumar was unanimously elected leader of the Congress Legislature Party at a meeting held at Vidhana Soudha, with Siddaramaiah himself proposing his name.

Deputy Chief Minister

The Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka is the senior minister of the cabinet after the Chief Minister. The current Deputy Chief Minister is G. Parameshwara, who was sworn in alongside Shivakumar on 3 June 2026.

State Cabinet As per the Constitution of India, all portfolios of state government are vested in the Chief Minister, who distributes various portfolios to individual ministers whom he nominates to the State Governor. The state governor appoints individual ministers for various portfolios and departments as per the advice of the Chief Minister, and together they form the State Cabinet. Actions of individual ministers are part of the collective responsibility of the state cabinet, and the Chief Minister is responsible for the actions of each minister. The state cabinet along with the Chief Minister prepares general policy and individual department policy, which guides the day-to-day administration of each minister.

Council of Ministers

List of cabinets of Karnataka Ministry Chief Minister Assembly Political party 1 K. Chengalaraya Reddy ministry K. Chengalaraya Reddy Indian National Congress rowspan=9 2 Hanumanthaiah ministry Kengal Hanumanthaiah 1st 3 Manjappa ministry Kadidal Manjappa4First Nijalingappa ministryS. Nijalingappa 5 Second Nijalingappa ministryS. Nijalingappa2nd 6 B. D. Jatti ministryB. D. Jatti 7 Kanthi ministry S. R. Kanthi3rd8Third Nijalingappa ministryS. Nijalingappa9Fourth Nijalingappa ministryS. Nijalingappa4th 10 First Veerendra Patil ministryVeerendra PatilIndian National Congress (Organisation) 11 First Urs ministry D. Devaraj Urs 5thIndian National Congress (Requisitionists) 12 Second Urs ministryD. Devaraj Urs6thIndian National Congress (Indira) rowspan=2 13 Gundu Rao ministry R. Gundu Rao 14 First Hegde ministry Ramakrishna Hegde 7thJanata Party rowspan=4 15 Second Hegde ministryRamakrishna Hegde 8th 16 Third Hegde ministryRamakrishna Hegde 17 S. R. Bommai ministry S. R. Bommai 18 Second Veerendra Patil ministry Veerendra Patil 9th Indian National Congress (Indira) rowspan=3 19 Bangarappa ministry S. Bangarappa 20 Moily ministry M. Veerappa Moily 21 Deve Gowda ministry H. D. Deve Gowda 10th Janata Dal rowspan=2 22 J. H. Patel ministry J. H. Patel 23 Krishna ministry S. M. Krishna 11th Indian National Congress rowspan=2 24 Dharam Singh ministry Dharam Singh 12th 25 First Kumaraswamy ministry H. D. Kumaraswamy Janata Dal (Secular) 26 First Yediyurappa ministry B. S. Yediyurappa Bharatiya Janata Party rowspan=4 27 Second Yediyurappa ministry B. S. Yediyurappa 13th 28 Sadananda Gowda ministryD. V. Sadananda Gowda 29 Shettar ministryJagadish Shettar 30 First Siddaramaiah ministry Siddaramaiah14th Indian National Congress 31 Second Kumaraswamy ministry H. D. Kumaraswamy15th Janata Dal (Secular) 32 Third Yediyurappa ministry B. S. YediyurappaBharatiya Janata Party rowspan=2 33 Basavaraj Bommai ministry Basavaraj Bommai 34 Second Siddaramaiah ministry Siddaramaiah 16th Indian National Congress rowspan=2 35 D. K. Shivakumar ministry D. K. Shivakumar

Oath as the state chief minister/minister

See also Government of Karnataka Karnataka Legislative Assembly Karnataka Legislative Council Chief Minister of Karnataka List of chief ministers of Karnataka List of deputy chief ministers of Karnataka 2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election

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