The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as GoK or GoKA, formerly known as Government of Mysore (1956–1974), is a democratically elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appointed for five years appoints the chief minister and on the advice of the chief minister appoints their council of ministers. Even though the governor remains the ceremonial head of the state, the day-to-day running of the government is taken care of by the chief minister and their council of ministers in whom a great amount of legislative powers are vested.
Executive OfficeLeaderPortraitSinceGovernorThawar Chand Gehlot11 July 2021 Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar 03 June 2026 Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara 03 June 2026Advocate GeneralShashi Kiran Shetty21 May 2023
Legislative OfficeLeaderPortraitConstituencySinceKarnataka LegislatureKarnataka Legislative CouncilChairperson Basavaraj HorattiKarnataka West Teachers' 21 December 2022Deputy ChairpersonM. K. Pranesh Chikkamagaluru Local Authorities 29 January 2021 Leader of the House N.S. Boseraju Legislative Assembly3 July 2023 Leader of Opposition Chalavadi NarayanaswamyLegislative Assembly23 July 2024Deputy Leader of OppositionSunil VallyapureLegislative Assembly25 December 2023Chief Whip of the GovernmentSaleem AhmedDharwad–Gadag–Haveri Local Authorities3 July 2023Chief Whip of the Opposition N. RavikumarLegislative Assembly27 December 2023Karnataka Legislative AssemblySpeakerVacant03 June 2026Deputy SpeakerRudrappa Manapa LamaniHaveri6 July 2023Leader of the HouseD. K. ShivakumarKanakapura03 June 2026Leader of OppositionR. AshokaPadmanabhanagar17 November 2023Deputy Leader of the OppositionArvind BelladHubli-Dharwad West25 December 2023Chief Whip of the GovernmentAshok PattanRamdurg3 July 2023Chief Whip of the OppositionDr. Doddanagouda Hanamagouda PatilKushtagi25 December 2023
Judiciary OfficeLeaderPortraitSinceHigh Court of KarnatakaChief JusticeVibhu Bakhru19 July 2025Senior Sitting Judges (Key Senior Benches) Justice Anu Sivaraman Justice S. Sreenivas Harish Kumar Justice B. M. Shyam Prasad Justice S. Sunil Dutt Yadav Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty (Administrative Judge for Bengaluru South) Justice Ashok S. Kinagi Justice Suraj Govindaraj
Independent Constitutional Bodies
OfficeLeaderPortraitSince State Election CommissionerG. S. Sangreshi 30 June 2024 Chairman State Public Service CommissionShivashankarappa S. Sahukar 04 April 2021 Council of Ministers
District In-charge Ministers Sr No. DistrictGuardian MinisterPartyTenure 01 Bagalkot M. B. PatilIndian National Congress 13 May 2023 Incumbent 02 Bangalore Urban Ramalinga Reddy 13 May 2023 03 Bangalore Rural K. H. Muniyappa 13 May 2023 04 Belagavi Satish Jarkiholi 13 May 2023 05 Ballari K. H. Muniyappa 13 May 2023 06 Bidar Eshwara Khandre 13 May 2023 07 Bijapur M. B. Patil 13 May 2023 08 Chamarajanagar yathindra . siddaramaiah 13 May 2023 09 Chikkaballapura Byrathi Suresh 13 May 2023 10 Chikmagalur K. J. George 13 May 2023 11 Chitradurga G. Parameshwara 13 May 2023 12 Dakshina Kannada Dinesh Gundurao 13 May 2023 13 Davanagere S. S. Mallikarjun 13 May 2023 14 Dharwad Santosh Lad 13 May 2023 15Gadag H. K. Patil 13 May 2023 16Kalaburagi Priyank Kharge 13 May 2023 17 Hassan Krishna Byre Gowda 07 aug 2025 18 Haveri Shivanand Patil 13 May 2023 19Kodagu N. S. Boseraju 13 May 2023 20 Kolar Byrathi Suresh 13 May 202321 Koppal Shivaraj Tangadagi 13 May 202322 Mandya N. Chaluvaraya Swamy 13 May 202323 Mysore H. C. Mahadevappa 13 May 202324 RaichurSharan Prakash Patil 13 May 202325 Ramanagara Ramalinga Reddy 13 May 202326 Shivamogga Madhu Bangarappa 13 May 202327 TumakuruG. Parameshwara 13 May 202328 Udupi Lakshmi Hebbalkar 13 May 202329 Uttara Kannada Mankala Vaidya 13 May 202330 Vijayanagara B. Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan 13 May 202331 Yadgir Sharanabasappa Darshanapur 9 June 2023
Administrative divisions
Karnataka State has been divided into 4 revenue divisions, 31 districts, 49 subdivisions, 237 taluks, 747 hoblies/ revenue circles and 6,022 villages for land revenue administrative purposes. The state has 281 towns and 7 municipal corporations. Bangalore is the largest urban agglomeration. It is among the fastest growing cities in the world.
Revenue administration The state is divided into four administrative divisions for land revenue administration—Bengaluru, Mysuru, Belagavi, and Kalaburagi—each headed by a Regional Commissioner (formerly known as Divisional Commissioner, a senior IAS officer). Each division comprises multiple districts.
These divisions are subdivided into districts, each administered by a Deputy Commissioner (DC), an IAS officer. There are a total 31 districts in the state. Within a district, there are one or more revenue sub-divisions, overseen by an Assistant Commissioner. The Assistant Commissioners are designated as the Sub-Divisional Officers and Sub-Divisional Magistrates of the sub-division.
Each sub-division contains multiple taluks, administered by Tahsildars. There are a 236 Taluks in the state. Taluks are further divided into Hoblis, which are clusters of villages managed by Revenue Inspectors. At the grassroots level, each village is the smallest administrative unit and is managed by a Village Accountant.
Local government institutions In Karnataka, rural governance is managed through a three-tier Panchayati Raj system: 5,958 Gram Panchayats at the village level, 233 Taluk Panchayats at the taluk level, and 31 Zilla Panchayats at the district level. These bodies collectively form the Panchayati Raj Institutions, responsible for local self-governance and rural development.
Urban governance in Karnataka is administered through Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), which are classified according to the population and size of the urban area. These include Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), City Corporations, City Municipal Councils, Town Municipal Councils, and Town Panchayats.
Karnataka has a total of 278 Urban Local Bodies, including 1 BBMP, 11 City Corporations, 57 City Municipal Councils, 114 Town Municipal Councils, and 95 Town Panchayats, responsible for urban governance across the state.
Political and administrative reorganization
Karnataka took its present shape in 1956, when the states of Mysore and Coorg (Kodagu) were merged with the Kannada-speaking districts of the former states of Bombay and Hyderabad, and Madras. Mysore state was made up of 10 districts: Bangalore, Kolar, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Hassan, Chikmagalur (Kadur), Shimoga and Chitradurga; Bellary was transferred from Madras state to Mysore in 1953, when the new Andhra State was created out of Madras' northern districts. Kodagu became a district, and Dakshina Kannada (South Kanara) district was transferred from Madras state, Uttara Kannada (North Kanara), Dharwad, Belgaum District, and Bijapur District from Bombay state, and Bidar District, Kalaburgi District, and Raichur District from Hyderabad state.
In 1989, Bangalore Rural district was carved out of Bangalore district. In 1997, Bagalkot district was carved out of Vijayapura district, Chamrajnagar out of Mysore, Gadag out of Dharwad, Haveri out of Dharwad, Koppal out of Raichur, Udupi out of Dakshina Kannada and Yadgir out of Kalaburagi. Davanagere district was created from parts of Bellary, Chitradurga, Dharwad and Shimoga. In 2020, Vijayanagara district was carved out of Ballari district, to become the 31st district in the state. As a result, the world heritage site of Hampi, the erstwhile capital of Vijayanagara empire, is now part of a new district - Vijayanagara.
Legislature
The state legislature is bicameral and consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. The Legislative Assembly consists of 224 members with one member nominated by the governor to represent the Anglo-Indian community. The term of office of the members is five years and the term of a member elected to the council is six years. The Legislative Council is a permanent body with one-third of its members retiring every two years.
Ministry The government is headed by the governor who appoints the chief minister and their council of ministers. The governor is appointed for five years and acts as the constitutional head of the state. Even though the governor remains the ceremonial head of the state, the day-to-day running of the government is taken care of by the chief minister and their council of ministers in whom a great deal of legislative powers is vested..
The secretariat headed by the secretary to the governor assists the council of ministers. The council of ministers consists of cabinet ministers, ministers of state and deputy ministers. The chief minister is assisted by the chief secretary, who is the head of the administrative services.
As of August 2021, the Government of Karnataka consists of 30 ministers including Chief Minister.
Chief Minister
The Chief Minister of Karnataka is the chief executive of the Indian state of Karnataka. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, the state's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given that he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.Durga Das Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India. 1960. 20th Edition, 2011 Reprint. pp. 241, 245. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. . Note: although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Karnataka as well.
Karnataka Panchayat Raj This is a 3-tier system in the state with elected bodies at the village (grama), taluka and district (zilla) levels. It ensures greater participation of people and effective implementation of rural development programs. There is a Grama Panchayat for a village (grama) or a group of villages (gramas), a Taluka Panchayat at the taluka level and a Zilla Panchayat at the district (zilla) level.
All the 3 institutions are made up of elected representatives and there is no provision for nomination by the governor to any of these councils. Karnataka was the first state in the country to enact the Panchayat Raj Act, incorporating all provisions of the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution.
In 2014, Karnataka State Grama Panchayats Delimitation Committee was constituted by the government of Karnataka, with Chairman S G Nanjaiahna Mutt and 6 members. The joint secretary of the committee was Dr. Revaiah Odeyar. The report was submitted on October 30, 2014. This resulted in the implementation of Gram Panchayath Elections in 2015.
Karnataka Panchayat Administrative Service (KPAS), is the civil service of Karnataka state. The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department conducts exams to recruit candidates for the service. The KPAS officers are usually appointed as Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs). They are trained under the Abdul Nazeer Sab State Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (ANSSIRDPR), Mysuru.
The Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act, 1993 (5) was substituted by Act 44 of 2015 with effect from 25.02.2016, as follows:
CHAPTER XVI 1 [Administration, Inspection, Supervision and Creation of Commissionerate of Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj]