Thechief minister is thechief executive of theIndian state. In accordance with theConstitution of India, thegovernor is a state'sde jure head, butde facto executive authority rests with thechief minister. Following elections to thelegislative assembly, the state's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form thegovernment. The governor appoints the chief minister, whosecouncil of ministers arecollectively 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 noterm limits.^[1][2]

Since 1963, India has had 18 femalechief ministers. The first woman to become chief minister wasSucheta Kripalani of theIndian National Congress, who was sworn in on 2 October 1963 aschief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Thelongest-serving female chief minister wasSheila Dikshit from the Indian National Congress, who served as thechief minister of the National Capital Territory of Delhi and held the office for over fifteen years.Mamata Banerjee, the founder of theAll India Trinamool Congress, is currently serving as thechief minister of West Bengal and has the second-longest tenure.J. Jayalalithaa, formergeneral secretary of theAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, served aschief minister of Tamil Nadu and has the third-longest tenure; she held the office until her death in 2016, becoming the first female chief minister to die in office, whileV. N. Janaki Ramachandran of the same state and party has the shortest tenure (only 23 days). Only12 states and 1 union territory in India have had female chief ministers out of 28 states and 3 union territories that have legislature systems.

Mamata Banerjee ofWest Bengal andRekha Gupta ofNational Capital Territory of Delhi are the incumbent femalechief ministers in India.

AAP (1)   AIADMK (2)   AITC (1)   BSP (1)   BJP (5)   INC (5)   JKPDP (1)   MGP (1)   RJD (1)
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			State/Union territory	Political party[a]
			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
2		Nandini Satpathy (1931–2006)	14 June 1972	16 December 1976[RES]	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 Ramachandran (1923–1996)	7 January 1988	30 January 1988	23 days	Tamil Nadu	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
6		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)	24 June 1991	12 May 1996	14 years, 124 days
			14 May 2001	21 September 2001[RES]
			2 March 2002	12 May 2006
			16 May 2011	27 September 2014
			23 May 2015	5 December 2016[†]
7		Mayawati (b. 1956)	13 June 1995	18 October 1995	7 years, 5 days	Uttar Pradesh	Bahujan Samaj Party
			21 March 1997	21 September 1997[RES]
			3 May 2002	29 August 2003[RES]
			13 May 2007	15 March 2012
8		Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (b. 1945)	21 November 1996	12 February 1997	83 days	Punjab	Indian National Congress
9		Rabri Devi (b. 1955)	25 July 1997	11 February 1999	7 years, 190 days	Bihar	Rashtriya Janata Dal
			9 March 1999	2 March 2000[RES]
			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 (b. 1959)	8 December 2003	23 August 2004[RES]	259 days	Madhya Pradesh	Bharatiya Janata Party
13		Vasundhara Raje (b. 1953)	8 December 2003	13 December 2008	10 years, 9 days	Rajasthan
			13 December 2013	17 December 2018
14		Mamata Banerjee* (b. 1955)	20 May 2011	Incumbent	14 years, 190 days	West Bengal	All India Trinamool Congress
15		Anandiben Patel (b. 1941)	22 May 2014	7 August 2016[RES]	2 years, 77 days	Gujarat	Bharatiya Janata Party
16		Mehbooba Mufti (b. 1959)	4 April 2016	19 June 2018	2 years, 76 days	Jammu and Kashmir	Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party
17		Atishi (b. 1981)	21 September 2024	20 February 2025	152 days	National Capital Territory of Delhi	Aam Aadmi Party
18		Rekha Gupta* (b. 1974)	20 February 2025	Incumbent	279 days		Bharatiya Janata Party

• List of female governors in India
• List of female chief justices in India
• List of current Indian chief ministers
• List of female opposition leaders in India
• List of female deputy chief ministers in India
• List of longest-serving Indian chief ministers
• List of female legislative speakers and chairpersons in India
• List of female lieutenant governors and administrators in India

• Women chief ministers of Indian states
• Lists of women politicians in India
• Lists of chief ministers of Indian states

• Articles with short description
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• Use Indian English from November 2025
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• Use dmy dates from November 2025