List of female chief ministers in India

Map representing the number of female chief ministers in different states and union territories of India

The chief minister is the chief executive of the Indian state. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the legislative assembly, the state's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively 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 no term limits.[1]

Since 1947, India has had 17 female chief ministers. The first woman to become chief minister was Sucheta Kripalani of the Indian National Congress party, who was sworn in on 2 October 1963 as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. The longest-serving female chief minister was Sheila Dikshit from the Indian National Congress, who served as the chief minister of Delhi and held the office for over fifteen years. J. Jayalalithaa, former general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, served as chief minister of Tamil Nadu and has the second-longest tenure; she held the office until her death in 2016, becoming the first female chief minister to die in office, while V. N. Janaki Ramachandran of the same state and party has the shortest tenure (only 23 days). Only 12 states and 1 union territory in India had female chief ministers out of 28 states and 3 union territories that have legislature systems.

Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal and Atishi of National Capital Territory of Delhi are the incumbent female chief ministers in India.

Chronological list

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Key
  AAP (1)   AIADMK (2)   AITC (1)   BSP (1)   BJP (4)   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
(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
(1945–) 		21 November 1996 12 February 1997 83 days Punjab Indian National Congress
9 Rabri Devi
(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
(1959–) 		8 December 2003 23 August 2004[RES] 259 days Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party
13 Vasundhara Raje
(1953–) 		8 December 2003 13 December 2008 10 years, 9 days Rajasthan
13 December 2013 17 December 2018
14 Mamata Banerjee*
(1955–) 		20 May 2011 Incumbent 13 years, 167 days West Bengal All India Trinamool Congress
15 Anandiben Patel
(1941–) 		22 May 2014 7 August 2016[RES] 2 years, 77 days Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party
16 Mehbooba Mufti
(1959–) 		4 April 2016 19 June 2018 2 years, 76 days Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party
17 Atishi*
(1981–) 		21 September 2024 Incumbent 43 days National Capital Territory of Delhi Aam Aadmi Party

Statistics

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List of female chief ministers by length of term

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No. Name Party Length of term
Longest continuous term Total years of chief ministership
1 Sheila Dikshit INC 15 years, 25 days 15 years, 25 days
2 J. Jayalalithaa AIADMK 4 years, 323 days 14 years, 124 days
3 Mamata Banerjee AITC 13 years, 167 days 13 years, 167 days
4 Vasundhara Raje BJP 5 years, 5 days 10 years, 9 days
5 Rabri Devi RJD 4 years, 360 days 7 years, 190 days
6 Mayawati BSP 4 years, 307 days 7 years, 5 days
7 Shashikala Kakodkar MGP 5 years, 258 days 5 years, 258 days
8 Nandini Satpathy INC 4 years, 185 days 4 years, 185 days
9 Sucheta Kripalani INC 3 years, 162 days 3 years, 162 days
10 Anandiben Patel BJP 2 years, 77 days 2 years, 77 days
11 Mehbooba Mufti JKPDP 2 years, 76 days 2 years, 76 days
12 Uma Bharti BJP 259 days 259 days
13 Anwara Taimur INC 206 days 206 days
14 Rajinder Kaur Bhattal INC 83 days 83 days
15 Sushma Swaraj BJP 52 days 52 days
16 Atishi AAP 43 days 43 days
17 V. N. Janaki Ramachandran AIADMK 23 days 23 days

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government she heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.

References

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  1. ^ 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
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