The chief minister of West Bengal (পশ্চিমবঙ্গের মুখ্যমন্ত্রী) is the de facto head of the executive branch of the Government of West Bengal, the subnational authority of the Indian state of West Bengal. The chief minister is head of the Council of Ministers and appoints ministers. The chief minister, along with their cabinet, exercises executive authority in the state. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly.Chief Minister also serves as Leader of the House in the Legislative Assembly.
| Chief Minister of West Bengal | |
|---|---|
| পশ্চিমবঙ্গের মুখ্যমন্ত্রী पश्चिम बंगाल की मुख्यमंत्री | |
Incumbent since 20 May 2011Mamata Banerjee | |
| |
| Style |
|
| Type | Head of Government |
| Status | Leader of the Executive |
| Abbreviation | CM |
| Member of |
|
| Reports to |
|
| Residence | 30-B, Harish Chatterjee Street, Kolkata |
| Seat | Nabanna, Howrah |
| Nominator | Members of the Government of West Bengal in West Bengal Legislative Assembly |
| Appointer | Governor of West Bengal by convention based on appointees ability to command confidence in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly |
| Term length | At the confidence of the assembly Chief Minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits. |
| Precursor | Prime Minister of Bengal |
| Inaugural holder | Prafulla Chandra Ghosh as Premier Bidhan Chandra Ray as Chief Minister |
| Formation | 15 August 1947 |
| Deputy | Deputy Chief Minister (vacant) |
| Salary |
|
| Website | CMO West Bengal |
On 17 August 1947, the British Indian province of Bengal was partitioned into the Pakistani province of East Bengal and the Indian state of West Bengal. Since then West Bengal has had seven chief ministers, starting with Prafulla Chandra Ghosh of the Indian National Congress (INC) party as the premier (elected to lead the assembly while the chief minister is not appointed). Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy in 1950 became the first formal chief minister of West Bengal after the implementation of the Indian Constitution. A period of political instability followed thereafter—West Bengal witnessed three elections, four coalition governments and three stints of President's rule between 1967 and 1972—before Siddhartha Shankar Ray of the INC served a five-year term.
The landslide victory of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front in the 1977 election began Jyoti Basu's 23-year continuous reign as chief minister. The length of his tenure was an all-India record until 2018, when he was surpassed by Sikkim's Pawan Kumar Chamling. Basu's successor Buddhadeb Bhattacharya continued the communist rule in West Bengal for another decade, when the Left Front was defeated in the 2011 election by the Trinamool Congress, thereby ending the 34-year long rule of the Left Front government, a fact that was noted by the international media. Sworn in on 20 May 2011, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is West Bengal's incumbent chief minister, the first woman to hold the office. She was subsequently voted to power in 2016 and 2021 assembly elections. She is one of the two female incumbent chief ministers in India as of 2024.
Key
| Colour key for parties |
|---|
Trinamool Congress Indian National Congress Bangla Congress Communist Party of India (Marxist) Independent N/A (President's rule) |
List
Premiers of West Bengal (1947–1950)
| # | Portrait | Premier (Birth-Death) Constituency | Election | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Period | |||||||
| 1 | Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (1891–1983) | 1946 (Provincial) | 15 August 1947 | 22 January 1948 | 160 days | Indian National Congress | Ghosh | ||
| 2 | Bidhan Chandra Roy (1882–1962) | 23 January 1948 | 26 January 1950 | 2 years, 3 days | Roy I | ||||
Chief Ministers of West Bengal (1950–present)
| # | Portrait | Chief Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency | Election | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Period | |||||||
| 1 | Bidhan Chandra Roy (1882–1962) MLA for Bowbazar, 1952–1962 MLA for Chowrangee, from 1962 | – (Provincial) | 26 January 1950 | 1 July 1962[†] | 12 years, 156 days | Indian National Congress | Roy I | ||
| 1952 (1st) | Roy II | ||||||||
| 1957 (2nd) | Roy III | ||||||||
| 1962 (3rd) | Roy IV | ||||||||
| 2 | Prafulla Chandra Sen (1897–1990) MLA for Arambagh East | 2 July 1962 | 1 March 1967 | 4 years, 242 days | Sen | ||||
| 3 | Ajoy Mukherjee (1901–1986) MLA for Tamluk | 1967 (4th) | 1 March 1967 | 21 November 1967 | 265 days | Bangla Congress | Mukherjee I | ||
| 4 | Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (1891–1983) MLA for Jhargram | 21 November 1967§ | 20 February 1968 | 91 days | Independent | Ghosh | |||
| Position vacant (20 February 1968 – 25 February 1969) President's rule was imposed during this period | |||||||||
| (3) | Ajoy Mukherjee (1901–1986) MLA for Tamluk | 1969 (5th) | 25 February 1969§ | 19 March 1970 | 1 year, 22 days | Bangla Congress | Mukherjee II | ||
| Position vacant (19 March 1970 – 2 April 1971) President's rule was imposed during this period | |||||||||
| (3) | Ajoy Mukherjee (1901–1986) MLA for Tamluk | 1971 (6th) | 2 April 1971§ | 29 June 1971 | 88 days | Bangla Congress | Mukherjee III | ||
| Position vacant (29 June 1971 – 20 March 1972) President's rule was imposed during this period | |||||||||
| 5 | Siddhartha Shankar Ray (1920–2010) MLA for Maldah | 1972 (7th) | 20 March 1972 | 30 April 1977 | 5 years, 41 days | Indian National Congress | Ray | ||
| Position vacant (30 April – 21 June 1977) President's rule was imposed during this period | |||||||||
| 6 | Jyoti Basu (1914–2010) MLA for Satgachhia | 1977 (8th) | 21 June 1977 | 6 November 2000 | 23 years, 138 days | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Basu I | ||
| 1982 (9th) | Basu II | ||||||||
| 1987 (10th) | Basu III | ||||||||
| 1991 (11th) | Basu IV | ||||||||
| 1996 (12th) | Basu V | ||||||||
| 7 | Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (1944–2024) MLA for Jadavpur | 6 November 2000 | 20 May 2011 | 10 years, 195 days | Bhattacharjee I | ||||
| 2001 (13th) | Bhattacharjee II | ||||||||
| 2006 (14th) | Bhattacharjee III | ||||||||
| 8 | Mamata Banerjee (born 1955) MLA for Bhabanipur | 2011 (15th) | 20 May 2011 | Incumbent | 14 years, 211 days | Trinamool Congress | Banerjee I | ||
| 2016 (16th) | Banerjee II | ||||||||
| 2021 (17th) | Banerjee III | ||||||||
Statistics
- Communist Party of India (Marxist) (46.1%)
- Indian National Congress (33.9%)
- Trinamool Congress (18.2%)
- Bangla Congress (1.44%)
- Independent (0.34%)
| No. | Name | Party | Length of term | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longest continuous term | Total years of premiership | ||||
| 1 | Jyoti Basu | CPI(M) | 23 years, 137 days | 23 years, 137 days | |
| 2 | Mamata Banerjee | TMC | 14 years, 211 days | 14 years, 211 days | |
| 3 | Bidhan Chandra Roy | INC | 12 years, 156 days | 14 years, 159 days | |
| 4 | Buddhadeb Bhattacharya | CPI(M) | 10 years, 188 days | 10 years, 188 days | |
| 5 | Siddhartha Shankar Ray | INC | 5 years, 41 days | 5 years, 41 days | |
| 6 | Prafulla Chandra Sen | INC | 4 years, 234 days | 4 years, 234 days | |
| 7 | Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee | BC / INC | 1 year, 19 days | 2 years, 6 days | |
| 8 | Prafulla Chandra Ghosh | IND / INC | 160 days | 250 days | |
See also
- List of deputy chief ministers of West Bengal
- List of governors of West Bengal
- List of rulers of Bengal
- Prime Minister of Bengal
Footnotes
- Since October 2013 Chief Minister Banerjee has worked from the top floor of the newly constructed Nabanna building in Howrah, while Writers' Building undergoes renovation.
- This refers to the 90-member rump legislature that emerged following partition, representing the West Bengali constituencies of the erstwhile Bengal Legislative Assembly. It was constituted under the Government of India Act 1935, not the Indian Constitution, which was still in the process of being drafted.
- President's rule may be imposed when the "government in a state is not able to function as per the Constitution", which often happens because no party or coalition has a majority in the assembly. When President's rule is in force in a state, its council of ministers stands dissolved. The office of chief minister thus lies vacant, and the administration is taken over by the governor, who functions on behalf of the central government. At times, the legislative assembly also stands dissolved.
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