List of chief ministers of West Bengal

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
Incumbent Mamata Banerjee since 20 May 2011
Chief Minister's Office Government of West Bengal
Style	The Honourable (formal) Madam Chief Minister (informal) Her Excellency (diplomatic)
Type	Head of Government
Status	Leader of the Executive
Abbreviation	CM
Member of	Cabinet West Bengal Legislative Assembly
Reports to	Governor of West Bengal West Bengal Legislative Assembly
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 (77 years ago) (1947-08-15)
Deputy	Deputy Chief Minister (vacant)
Salary	₹117,000 (US$1,400)/monthly ₹1,404,000 (US$17,000)/annually
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

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)

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)

#[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, 174 days	15th (2011 election)	Trinamool Congress
				26 May 2016	4 May 2021		16th (2016 election)
				5 May 2021	Incumbent		17th (2021 election)

Statistics

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, 174 days	13 years, 174 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

• List of deputy chief ministers of West Bengal
• List of governors of West Bengal
• List of rulers of Bengal
• Prime Minister of Bengal

Footnotes

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. 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]

References

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. 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. 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

• "Left Front Government of Bengal: A Saga of Struggle" – a political history of West Bengal from the CPI(M)'s point of view