The chief minister is the chief executive of the Indian state. In accordance with 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 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 she 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, India has had 16 female chief ministers. The first woman to become chief minister was Sucheta Kripalani of the Indian National Congress party, who was sworn in on 2 October 1963 as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. The longest-serving female chief minister was Sheila Dikshit from the Indian National Congress, who served as the chief minister of the National Capital Territory of Delhi and held the office for over fifteen years. J. Jayalalithaa, former general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, served as chief minister of Tamil Nadu and has the second-longest tenure; she held the office until her death in 2016, becoming the first female chief minister to die in office, while V. N. Janaki Ramachandran of the same state and party has the shortest tenure (only 23 days). Only 12 states and 1 union territory in India had female chief ministers out of 28 states and 3 union territories that have legislature systems. Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal is the only female incumbent chief minister in India.
| (2) (1) (1) (4) (5) (1) (1) (1) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Portrait | Name | Term of office | State/Union territory | Political party | ||||||
| Assumed office | Left office | Time in office | |||||||||
| 1 | Sucheta Kripalani (1908–1974) | 2 October 1963 | 13 March 1967 | 3 years, 162 days | Uttar Pradesh | Indian National Congress | rowspan=2 | ||||
| 2 | Nandini Satpathy (1931–2006) | 14 June 1972 | 16 December 1976 | 4 years, 185 days | Odisha | ||||||
| 3 | Shashikala Kakodkar (1935–2016) | 12 August 1973 | 27 April 1979 | 5 years, 258 days | Goa | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | |||||
| 4 | Anwara Taimur (1936–2020) | 6 December 1980 | 30 June 1981 | 206 days | Assam | Indian National Congress | |||||
| 5 | V. N. Janaki (1923–1996) | 7 January 1988 | 30 January 1988 | 23 days | Tamil Nadu | All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | rowspan=6 | ||||
| 6 | J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016) | 24 June 1991 | 12 May 1996 | 14 years, 124 days | |||||||
| 14 May 2001 | 21 September 2001 | ||||||||||
| 2 March 2002 | 12 May 2006 | ||||||||||
| 16 May 2011 | 27 September 2014 | ||||||||||
| 23 May 2015 | 5 December 2016 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Mayawati (1956–) | 13 June 1995 | 18 October 1995 | 7 years, 5 days | Uttar Pradesh | Bahujan Samaj Party | rowspan=4 | ||||
| 21 March 1997 | 21 September 1997 | ||||||||||
| 3 May 2002 | 29 August 2003 | ||||||||||
| 13 May 2007 | 15 March 2012 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (1945–) | 21 November 1996 | 12 February 1997 | 83 days | Punjab | Indian National Congress | |||||
| 9 | Rabri Devi (1955–) | 25 July 1997 | 11 February 1999 | 7 years, 190 days | Bihar | Rashtriya Janata Dal | rowspan=3 | ||||
| 9 March 1999 | 2 March 2000 | ||||||||||
| 11 March 2000 | 6 March 2005 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Sushma Swaraj (1952–2019) | 12 October 1998 | 3 December 1998 | 52 days | National Capital Territory of Delhi | Bharatiya Janata Party | |||||
| 11 | Sheila Dikshit (1938–2019) | 3 December 1998 | 28 December 2013 | 15 years, 25 days | Indian National Congress | ||||||
| 12 | Uma Bharti (1959–) | 8 December 2003 | 23 August 2004 | 259 days | Madhya Pradesh | Bharatiya Janata Party | rowspan=3 | ||||
| 13 | Vasundhara Raje (1953–) | 8 December 2003 | 13 December 2008 | 10 years, 9 days | Rajasthan | ||||||
| 13 December 2013 | 17 December 2018 | ||||||||||
| 14 | Mamata Banerjee
| 20 May 2011 | Incumbent | West Bengal | All India Trinamool Congress | ||||||
| 15 | Anandiben Patel (1941–) | 22 May 2014 | 7 August 2016 | 2 years, 77 days | Gujarat | Bharatiya Janata Party | |||||
| 16 | Mehbooba Mufti (1959–) | 4 April 2016 | 19 June 2018 | 2 years, 76 days | Jammu and Kashmir | Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party | |||||
| No. | Name | Party | Length of term | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longest continuous term | Total years of chief ministership | |||||
| 1 | Sheila Dikshit | INC | 15 years, 25 days | 15 years, 25 days | ||
| 2 | J. Jayalalithaa | AIADMK | 4 years, 323 days | 14 years, 124 days | ||
| 3 | Mamata Banerjee | AITC | ||||
| 4 | Vasundhara Raje | BJP | 5 years, 5 days | 10 years, 9 days | ||
| 5 | Rabri Devi | RJD | 4 years, 360 days | 7 years, 190 days | ||
| 6 | Mayawati | BSP | 4 years, 307 days | 7 years, 5 days | ||
| 7 | Shashikala Kakodkar | MGP | 5 years, 258 days | 5 years, 258 days | ||
| 8 | Nandini Satpathy | INC | 4 years, 185 days | 4 years, 185 days | ||
| 9 | Sucheta Kripalani | INC | 3 years, 162 days | 3 years, 162 days | ||
| 10 | Anandiben Patel | BJP | 2 years, 77 days | 2 years, 77 days | ||
| 11 | Mehbooba Mufti | JKPDP | 2 years, 76 days | 2 years, 76 days | ||
| 12 | Uma Bharti | BJP | 259 days | 259 days | ||
| 13 | Anwara Taimur | INC | 206 days | 206 days | ||
| 14 | Rajinder Kaur Bhattal | INC | 83 days | 83 days | ||
| 15 | Sushma Swaraj | BJP | 52 days | 52 days | ||
| 16 | V. N. Janaki | AIADMK | 23 days | 23 days | ||