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List of chief ministers of West Bengal

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The Chief Minister of West Bengal (IAST: Paścim Baṅgēr Mukhya Mantrī) 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 of West Bengal
Seal of the State of West Bengal
Photo of Mamata Banerjee
since 20 May 2011
Style
TypeHead of Government
StatusLeader of the Executive
AbbreviationCM
Member of
Reports to
Residence30-B, Harish Chatterjee Street, Kolkata[1]
SeatNabanna, Howrah[a]
NominatorMembers of the Government of West Bengal in West Bengal Legislative Assembly
AppointerGovernor of West Bengal by convention based on appointees ability to command confidence in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly
Term lengthAt the confidence of the assembly
Chief Minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.[3]
PrecursorPrime Minister of Bengal
Inaugural holderPrafulla Chandra Ghosh as Premier
Bidhan Chandra Ray as Chief Minister
Formation15 August 1947
(77 years ago) (1947-08-15)
DeputyDeputy Chief Minister (vacant)
Salary
  • ₹117,000 (US$1,400)/monthly
  • ₹1,404,000 (US$17,000)/annually
WebsiteCMO 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).[4] 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.[5]

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.[6] 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 the one of the two female incumbent Chief Minister in India at present (as per 2024).

Key

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Colour key for parties
  All India Trinamool Congress
  Indian National Congress
  Bangla Congress
  Communist Party of India (Marxist)
  Independent
  N/A (President's rule)
 
Writers' Building, an 18th-century Company-era construction in Kolkata, traditionally served as the office of West Bengal's chief minister.
 
The first Premier of West Bengal since Independence, Prafulla Chandra Ghosh, at Writers' in 1947
 
The State Emblem of India. West Bengal has come under President's rule on four occasions, all between 1968 and 1977.
 
With over 23 years in office, Jyoti Basu of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is India's third longest-serving chief minister.
 
Basu's successor Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who served for over 11 years

Premiers of West Bengal (1947–50)

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Premiers of West Bengal
No. Portrait Name Tenure[7] Duration Assembly
(election) 		Party[5] Appointed

by

(Governor)

1   Prafulla Chandra Ghosh 15 August 1947 22 January 1948 160 days Provincial Assembly

(1946–52)[b]
(January 1946 election)

Indian National Congress Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari
2   Bidhan Chandra Roy 23 January 1948 26 January 1950 2 years, 3 days

Chief Ministers of West Bengal (1950–present)

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#[c] Portrait Name Constituency Tenure[d] Assembly
(election) 		Party
(2)   Bidhan Chandra Roy 26 January 1950 30 March 1952 12 years, 156 days Provincial[e]
(1946 election) 		Indian National Congress
Bowbazar 31 March 1952 5 April 1957 1st

(1952 election)

6 April 1957 2 April 1962 2nd

(1957 election)

Chowrangee 3 April 1962 1 July 1962 3rd
(1962 election)
3   Prafulla Chandra Sen Arambagh East 2 July 1962 1 March 1967 4 years, 242 days
4   Ajoy Mukherjee Tamluk 1 March 1967 21 November 1967 265 days 4th

(1967 election)

Bangla Congress
(1)   Prafulla Chandra Ghosh Jhargram 21 November 1967 20 February 1968 91 days Independent
–   Vacant[f]
(President's rule) 		N/A 20 February 1968 25 February 1969 1 year, 5 days Dissolved N/A
(4)   Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee Tamluk 25 February 1969 19 March 1970 1 year, 22 days 5th
(1969 election) 		Bangla Congress
–   Vacant[f]
(President's rule) 		N/A 19 March 1970 30 July 1970 1 year, 14 days N/A
30 July 1970 2 April 1971 Dissolved
(4)   Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee Tamluk 2 April 1971 29 June 1971 88 days 6th

(1971 election)

Indian National Congress
–   Vacant[f]
(President's rule) 		N/A 29 June 1971 20 March 1972 265 days Dissolved N/A
5   Siddhartha Shankar Ray Maldah 20 March 1972 30 April 1977 5 years, 41 days 7th

(1972 election)

Indian National Congress
–   Vacant[f]
(President's rule) 		N/A 30 April 1977 21 June 1977 52 days Dissolved N/A
6   Jyoti Basu Satgachhia 21 June 1977 23 May 1982 23 years, 138 days 8th

(1977 election)

Communist Party of India (Marxist)
24 May 1982 29 March 1987 9th

(1982 election)

30 March 1987 18 June 1991 10th

(1987 election)

19 June 1991 15 May 1996 11th

(1991 election)

16 May 1996 6 November 2000 12th

(1996 election)

7   Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Jadavpur 6 November 2000 14 May 2001 10 years, 195 days
15 May 2001 17 May 2006 13th

(2001 election)

18 May 2006 20 May 2011 14th
(2006 election)
8   Mamata Banerjee Bhabanipur 20 May 2011 25 May 2016 13 years, 189 days 15th

(2011 election)

Trinamool Congress
26 May 2016 4 May 2021 16th

(2016 election)

5 May 2021 Incumbent 17th

(2021 election)

Statistics

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Fraction of time of holding CMO by party in West Bengal (as of October 2024)

  Communist Party of India (Marxist) (46.13%)
  Indian National Congress (33.88%)
  Trinamool Congress (18.24%)
  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 Bidhan Chandra Roy INC 12 years, 156 days 14 years, 159 days
3 Mamata Banerjee TMC 13 years, 189 days 13 years, 189 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

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ 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.[2]
  2. ^ 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.[5]
  3. ^ A number in parentheses indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
  4. ^ While the tenures have been primarily sourced to a list on the West Bengal Legislative Assembly website,[7] obvious errors (mainly around the 1969–71 period) have been corrected with the help of a historical essay from the same website.[5]
  5. ^ Following the promulgation of the Constitution of India, the provincial assembly carried on as the legislative assembly of West Bengal until fresh elections could be organised in 1952.[5]
  6. ^ a b c d Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, 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.[8] Cite error: The named reference "PR" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).

References

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  1. ^ Arshad Ali. "Mamata may move to new CM's residence – British-era bungalow". The Indian Express. 8 October 2013. Archived on 19 July 2014.
  2. ^ Shiv Sahay Singh. "Mamata shifts office to Nabanna". The Hindu. 6 October 2013. Archived on 21 December 2016.
  3. ^ Durga Das Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India. 1960. 20th Edition, 2011 Reprint. pp. 241, 245. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. ISBN 978-81-8038-559-9. Note: Although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of West Bengal as well.
  4. ^ Modern Bengal A Short History of Bengal. Retrieved 18 April 2009.
  5. ^ a b c d e Origin and Growth of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Retrieved on 27 July 2018.
    Note: In case of an error, please click the "Origin & Growth" button in the top left of the website.
  6. ^ "Pawan Kumar Chamling crosses Jyoti Basu’s record as longest-serving Chief Minister ". The Hindu. 29 April 2018.Archived on 31 July 2018.
  7. ^ a b Premiers/Chief Ministers of West Bengal. West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Archive link from 12 March 2016.
  8. ^ Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005. Archived on 16 August 2017.
  9. ^ Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005. Archived on 16 August 2017.
  10. ^ Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005. Archived on 16 August 2017.

Further reading

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