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 | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Style |
|
| 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 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.[3] |
| 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).[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
edit| Colour key for parties |
|---|
Premiers of West Bengal (1947–50)
edit| 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] |
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)
edit| #[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 | ||||||
| 6 April 1957 | 2 April 1962 | 2nd | |||||||
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | ||
| 24 May 1982 | 29 March 1987 | 9th | |||||||
| 30 March 1987 | 18 June 1991 | 10th | |||||||
| 19 June 1991 | 15 May 1996 | 11th | |||||||
| 16 May 1996 | 6 November 2000 | 12th | |||||||
| 7 | Buddhadeb Bhattacharya | Jadavpur | 6 November 2000 | 14 May 2001 | 10 years, 195 days | ||||
| 15 May 2001 | 17 May 2006 | 13th | |||||||
| 18 May 2006 | 20 May 2011 | 14th (2006 election) | |||||||
| 8 | Mamata Banerjee | Bhabanipur | 20 May 2011 | 25 May 2016 | 13 years, 217 days | 15th | Trinamool Congress | ||
| 26 May 2016 | 4 May 2021 | 16th | |||||||
| 5 May 2021 | Incumbent | 17th | |||||||
Statistics
editFraction of time of holding CMO by party in West Bengal (as of October 2024)
| 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, 217 days | 13 years, 217 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
editFootnotes
edit- ^ 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]
- ^ 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]
- ^ A number in parentheses indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
- ^ 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]
- ^ 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]
- ^ 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
edit- ^ Arshad Ali. "Mamata may move to new CM's residence – British-era bungalow". The Indian Express. 8 October 2013. Archived on 19 July 2014.
- ^ Shiv Sahay Singh. "Mamata shifts office to Nabanna". The Hindu. 6 October 2013. Archived on 21 December 2016.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Modern Bengal A Short History of Bengal. Retrieved 18 April 2009.
- ^ 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. - ^ "Pawan Kumar Chamling crosses Jyoti Basu’s record as longest-serving Chief Minister ". The Hindu. 29 April 2018.Archived on 31 July 2018.
- ^ a b Premiers/Chief Ministers of West Bengal. West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Archive link from 12 March 2016.
- ^ a b c Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005. Archived on 16 August 2017.
Further reading
edit- "Left Front Government of Bengal: A Saga of Struggle" – a political history of West Bengal from the CPI(M)'s point of view