| Chief Minister of West Bengal | |
|---|---|
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| Style |
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| Type | Head of Government |
| Status | Leader of the Executive |
| Abbreviation | CM |
| Member of | |
| Reports to | |
| Residence | 30-B, Harish Chatterjee Street,Kolkata[1] |
| Seat | Nabanna,Howrah[a] |
| Nominator | Members of theGovernment of West Bengal inWest Bengal Legislative Assembly |
| Appointer | Governor of West Bengal byconvention based on appointees ability to commandconfidence in theWest Bengal Legislative Assembly |
| Term length | At the confidence of the assembly Chief Minister's term is for five years and is subject to noterm limits.[3] |
| Precursor | Prime Minister of Bengal |
| Inaugural holder | Prafulla Chandra Ghosh as Premier Bidhan Chandra Ray as Chief Minister |
| Formation | 15 August 1947 (78 years ago) (1947-08-15) |
| Deputy | Deputy Chief Minister (vacant) |
| Salary |
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| Website | CMO West Bengal |
Thechief minister of West Bengal (পশ্চিমবঙ্গের মুখ্যমন্ত্রী) is thede facto head of the executive branch of theGovernment of West Bengal, the subnational authority of the Indian state ofWest 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, whosecouncil of ministers arecollectively responsible to the assembly.
On 17 August 1947, theBritish Indian province ofBengal waspartitioned into the Pakistani province ofEast Bengal and the Indian state ofWest Bengal. Since then West Bengal has had seven chief ministers, starting withPrafulla Chandra Ghosh of theIndian National Congress (INC) party as thepremier (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 theIndian Constitution. A period of political instability followed thereafter—West Bengal witnessed three elections, four coalition governments and three stints ofPresident's rule between 1967 and 1972—beforeSiddhartha Shankar Ray of the INC served a five-year term.[5]
The landslide victory of theCommunist Party of India (Marxist)-ledLeft Front in the1977 election beganJyoti 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'sPawan Kumar Chamling.[6] Basu's successorBuddhadeb Bhattacharya continued the communist rule in West Bengal for another decade, when the Left Front was defeated in the2011 election by theTrinamool Congress, thereby ending the 34-year long rule of theLeft Front government, a fact that was noted by the international media. Sworn in on 20 May 2011, Trinamool Congress leaderMamata Banerjee is West Bengal'sincumbent chief minister, thefirst woman to hold the office. She was subsequently voted to power in 2016 and 2021 assembly elections. She is one of the two female incumbentchief ministers in India as of 2024.
| Colour key for parties |
|---|
| # | Portrait | Premier (Birth-Death) Constituency | Election | Term of office[7] | Political party[5] | Ministry | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Period | |||||||
| 1 | | Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (1891–1983) | 1946 (Provincial)[b] | 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 | |||
| # | Portrait | Chief Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency | Election | Term of office[7] | Political party[5] | Ministry | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Period | |||||||
| 1 | | Bidhan Chandra Roy (1882–1962) MLA forBowbazar, 1952–1962 MLA forChowrangee, 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 forArambagh East | 2 July 1962 | 1 March 1967 | 4 years, 242 days | Sen | |||
| 3 |  | Ajoy Mukherjee (1901–1986) MLA forTamluk | 1967 (4th) | 1 March 1967 | 21 November 1967 | 265 days | Bangla Congress | Mukherjee I | |
| 4 | | Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (1891–1983) MLA forJhargram | 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[c] | |||||||||
| (3) | | Ajoy Mukherjee (1901–1986) MLA forTamluk | 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[c] | |||||||||
| (3) | | Ajoy Mukherjee (1901–1986) MLA forTamluk | 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[c] | |||||||||
| 5 |  | Siddhartha Shankar Ray (1920–2010) MLA forMaldah | 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[c] | |||||||||
| 6 | | Jyoti Basu (1914–2010) MLA forSatgachhia | 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 forJadavpur | 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 forBhabanipur | 2011 (15th) | 20 May 2011 | Incumbent | 14 years, 187 days | Trinamool Congress | Banerjee I | |
| 2016 (16th) | Banerjee II | ||||||||
| 2021 (17th) | Banerjee III | ||||||||
| 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, 187 days | 14 years, 187 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 | |
