| Border: | parliamentary |
| Minister: | not_prime |
| Post: | Chief Minister |
| Body: | Union Territory of Puducherry |
| Native Name: | புதுச்சேரி முதல்வர் పుదుచ్చేరి ముఖ్యమంత్రి പുതുച്ചേരി മുഖ്യമന്ത്രി Ministre en chef de Pondichéry |
| Insignia: | Emblem of the Government of Puducherry.png |
| Insigniasize: | 200px |
| Insigniacaption: | Emblem of Puducherry |
| Incumbent: | N. Rangasamy |
| Style: | The Honourable |
| Status: | Head of Government |
| Abbreviation: | CM |
| Member Of: | |
| Termlength: | At the confidence of the assembly |
| Termlength Qualified: | 5 years and is subject to no term limits. |
| Appointer: | President of India |
| Inaugural: | Edouard Goubert |
The chief minister of Puducherry is the chief executive of the Indian union territory of Puducherry. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the lieutenant governor is a union territory's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Puducherry Legislative Assembly, the union territory's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The President of India 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.[1]
Since 1963, Puducherry has had 10 chief ministers. The longest-serving and current chief minister, N. Rangasamy from All India N.R. Congress held the office for over thirteen years in multiple tenure. The former Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation M. O. H. Farook has the second-longest tenure and V. Vaithilingam from Indian National Congress has the third-longest tenure. The inaugural holder Édouard Goubert has the shortest tenure (only 1 year, 71 days). There have been seven instances of president's rule in Puducherry, most recently in 2021.
The current incumbent is N. Rangasamy of the All India N.R. Congress since 7 May 2021.
The French settlements in India were in transition period between the de facto transfer day (i.e. 1 November 1954) and the de jure transfer day (i.e. 16 August 1962). In January 1955, The Indian union government by an order renamed these four French settlements in India as State of Pondicherry.[2] Both these transfer days are official holidays within the UT of Puducherry.
The list of chief counsellors:
The Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 that came into force on 1 July 1963 and the state of Pondicherry got converted into the Union territory with effect from the same day. Also, its Representative Assembly was converted into Legislative Assembly.
| No. | Portrait | Name | Elected constituency | Term of office[7] | Assembly | Ministry | Appointed by | Political party | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assumed office | Left office | Time in office | ||||||||||
| 1 | Edouard Goubert (1894–1979) | Mannadipet | 1 July 1963 | 10 September 1964 | 1 year, 71 days | 1st | Goubert | S. K. Datta | Indian National Congress | |||
| 2 | V. Venkatasubba Reddiar (1909–1982) | Nettapakkam | 11 September 1964 | 9 April 1967 | 2 years, 210 days | 2nd | Reddiar I | S. L. Silam | ||||
| 3 | M. O. H. Farook (1937–2012) | Karaikal North | 9 April 1967 | 6 March 1968 | 332 days | Farook I | ||||||
| (2) | V. Venkatasubba Reddiar (1909–1982) | Nettapakkam | 6 March 1968 | 17 September 1968 | 195 days | Reddiar II | ||||||
| – | Vacant (President's rule) | N/A | 18 September 1968 | 16 March 1969 | 179 days | Dissolved | N/A | – | N/A | |||
| (3) | M. O. H. Farook (1937–2012) | Kalapet | 17 March 1969 | 2 January 1974 | 4 years, 291 days | 3rd | Farook II | B. D. Jatti | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |||
| – | Vacant (President's rule) | N/A | 3 January 1974 | 5 March 1974 | 61 days | Dissolved | N/A | – | N/A | |||
| 4 | S. Ramassamy (1939–2017) | Karaikal South | 6 March 1974 | 28 March 1974 | 22 days | 4th | Ramassamy I | Cheddi Lal | All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |||
| – | Vacant (President's rule) | N/A | 29 March 1974 | 1 July 1977 | 3 years, 94 days | Dissolved | N/A | – | N/A | |||
| (4) | S. Ramassamy (1939–2017) | Karaikal South | 2 July 1977 | 12 November 1978 | 1 year, 133 days | 5th | Ramassamy II | B. T. Kulkarni | All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |||
| – | Vacant (President's rule) | N/A | 13 November 1978 | 15 January 1980 | 1 year, 63 days | Dissolved | N/A | – | N/A | |||
| 5 | M. D. R. Ramachandran (Unknown) | Mannadipet | 16 January 1980 | 23 June 1983 | 3 years, 158 days | 6th | Ramachandran I | B. T. Kulkarni | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |||
| – | Vacant (President's rule) | N/A | 24 June 1983 | 15 March 1985 | 1 year, 264 days | Dissolved | N/A | – | N/A | |||
| (3) | M. O. H. Farook (1937–2012) | Lawspet | 16 March 1985 | 7 March 1990 | 4 years, 356 days | 7th | Farook III | T. P. Tewary | Indian National Congress | |||
| (5) | M. D. R. Ramachandran (Unknown) | Mannadipet | 8 March 1990 | 2 March 1991 | 359 days | 8th | Ramachandran II | Chandrawati | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |||
| – | Vacant (President's rule) | N/A | 3 March 1991 | 3 July 1991 | 122 days | Dissolved | N/A | – | N/A | |||
| 6 | V. Vaithilingam (1950–) | Nettapakkam | 4 July 1991 | 25 May 1996 | 4 years, 326 days | 9th | Vaithilingam I | Harswarup Singh | Indian National Congress | |||
| 7 | R. V. Janakiraman (1941–2019) | Nellithope | 26 May 1996 | 21 March 2000 | 3 years, 300 days | 10th | Janakiraman | Rajendra Kumari Bajpai | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |||
| 8 | P. Shanmugam (1927–2013) | Yanam | 22 March 2000 | 23 May 2001 | 1 year, 219 days | Shanmugam I | Rajani Rai | Indian National Congress | ||||
| 24 May 2001 | 27 October 2001 | 11th | Shanmugam II | |||||||||
| 9 | N. Rangasamy (1950–) | Thattanchavady | 27 October 2001 | 12 May 2006 | 6 years, 313 days | Rangasamy I | ||||||
| 13 May 2006 | 4 September 2008 | 12th | Rangasamy II | Madan Mohan Lakhera | ||||||||
| (6) | V. Vaithilingam (1950–) | Nettapakkam | 4 September 2008 | 15 May 2011 | 2 years, 253 days | Vaithilingam II | Govind Singh Gurjar | |||||
| (9) | N. Rangasamy (1950–) | Kadirkamam | 16 May 2011 | 5 June 2016 | 5 years, 20 days | 13th | Rangasamy III | Iqbal Singh | All India N.R. Congress | |||
| 10 | V. Narayanasamy (1947–) | Nellithope | 6 June 2016 | 22 February 2021 | 4 years, 261 days | 14th | Narayanasamy | Kiran Bedi | Indian National Congress | |||
| – | Vacant (President's rule) | N/A | 23 February 2021 | 6 May 2021 | 72 days | Dissolved | N/A | – | N/A | |||
| (9) | N. Rangasamy (1950–) | Thattanchavady | 7 May 2021 | Incumbent | 15th | Rangasamy IV | All India N.R. Congress | |||||