List of chief ministers of West Bengal

Chief Minister of West Bengal
Chief Minister of West Bengal
পশ্চিমবঙ্গের মুখ্যমন্ত্রী
	Seal of West Bengal Government
	Flag of India
	Incumbent; Mamata Banerjee; since 20 May 2011
	Chief Minister's Office
Style	The Honorable ; Madam Chief Minister Her Excellency
Status	Head of Government
Abbreviation	CM
Member of	Cabinet; West Bengal Legislative Assembly;
Reports to	Governor of West Bengal
Residence	Chief Minister Abas, Kolkata[1]
Seat	Nabanna, Howrah[lower-alpha 1]
Appointer	Governor of West Bengal
Term length	At the confidence of the assembly; Chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.[3]
Inaugural holder	Prafulla Chandra Ghosh as premier, ; Bidhan Chandra Ray as chief minister
Formation	15 August 1947; (as Prime Minister of West Bengal)
Deputy	Deputy chief minister (vacant)
Salary	₹117,000 (US$1,500)/monthly; ₹1,404,000 (US$18,000)/annually;
Website	http://wbcmo.gov.in/

The Chief Minister of West Bengal is the representative of the Government of India in the state of West Bengal and the head of the executive branch of the Government 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.

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 eight chief ministers, starting with Prafulla Chandra Ghosh of the Indian National Congress (INC) party as the premier. A period of political instability followed—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.[4]

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.[5] Basu's successor Buddhadeb Bhattacharya continued Communist rule in West Bengal for another decade, when the Left Front was defeated in the 2011 election by the All India Trinamool Congress. Sworn in on 20 May 2011, Trinamool 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. Mamata Banerjee's TMC got a landslide win in 2021 assembly elections, securing 215 assembly seats out of 292.

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 second longest-serving chief minister.

Basu's successor Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who served for over 10 years

Premiers of West Bengal (1947–50)

Premiers of West Bengal
No.	Portrait	Name	Tenure[6]		Duration	Assembly (election)	Party[4]		Appointed by (Governor)
1		Prafulla Chandra Ghosh	15 August 1947	22 January 1948	160 days	Provincial Assembly (1946–52)[lower-alpha 2] (January 1946 election)	Indian National Congress		Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari
2		Bidhan Chandra Roy	23 January 1948	25 January 1950	2 years, 2 days		Indian National Congress		Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari

Chief Ministers of West Bengal (1950–present)

Chief ministers of West Bengal
No.[lower-alpha 3]	Name	Constituency	Tenure[lower-alpha 4]		Duration	Assembly[7] (election)	Party[4] (alliance)
(2)	Bidhan Chandra Roy [lower-alpha 5]		26 January 1950	30 March 1952	12 years, 156 days (total: 14 years, 159 days)	Provincial Assembly[lower-alpha 6] (1946 election)	Indian National Congress
		Bowbazar	31 March 1952	5 April 1957		1st (1952 election)
		Bowbazar	6 April 1957	2 April 1962		2nd (1957 election)
		Chowrangee	3 April 1962	1 July 1962		3rd (1962 election)
3	Prafulla Chandra Sen[lower-alpha 7]	Arambagh East	9 July 1962	28 February 1967	4 years, 234 days	3rd (1962 election)
4	Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee	Tamluk	1 March 1967	21 November 1967	265 days	4th (1967 election)	Bangla Congress (United Front)
(1)	Prafulla Chandra Ghosh	Jhargram	21 November 1967	19 February 1968	90 days (total: 250 days)	4th (1967 election)	Independent (Progressive Democratic Front)
–	Vacant[lower-alpha 8] (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	16 March 1970	1 year, 19 days	5th (1969 election)	Bangla Congress (United Front)
–	Vacant[lower-alpha 8] (President's rule)	N/A	19 March 1970	30 July 1970	1 year, 14 days	5th (1969 election)	N/A
–	Vacant[lower-alpha 8] (President's rule)	N/A	30 July 1970	2 April 1971	1 year, 14 days	Dissolved	N/A
(4)	Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee	Tamluk	2 April 1971	28 June 1971	87 days (total: 2 years, 6 days)	6th (1971 election)	Indian National Congress (Democratic Coalition)
–	Vacant[lower-alpha 8] (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 (Progressive Democratic Alliance)
–	Vacant[lower-alpha 8] (President's rule)	N/A	30 April 1977	20 June 1977	51 days	Dissolved	N/A
6	Jyoti Basu	Satgachhia	21 June 1977	23 May 1982	23 years, 137 days	8th (1977 election)	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Left Front)
			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	5 November 2000		12th (1996 election)
7	Buddhadeb Bhattacharya	Jadavpur	6 November 2000	14 May 2001	10 years, 188 days	12th (1996 election)
			15 May 2001	17 May 2006		13th (2001 election)
			18 May 2006	13 May 2011		14th (2006 election)
8	Mamata Banerjee	Bhabanipur	20 May 2011	25 May 2016	11 years, 168 days	15th (2011 election)	All India Trinamool Congress[lower-alpha 9]
			26 May 2016	4 May 2021		16th (2016 election)
			5 May 2021	Incumbent		17th (2021 election)

Statistics

List of Chief Ministers by length of term

No.	Name	Party	Length of term
No.	Name	Party	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	AITC	11 years, 168 days	11 years, 168 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	1 year, 19 days	2 years, 6 days
8	Prafulla Chandra Ghosh	Independent	160 days	250 days

Political parties by total time-span of their member holding CMO (4 November 2022)

No.	Political party	Number of Chief ministers	Total days of holding CMO
1	CPI(M)	2	12,379 days
2	INC	3	8,196 days
3	TMC	1	4056 days
4	BC	1	649 days
5	IND	1	90 days

Footnotes

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.[4]
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,[6] obvious errors (mainly around the 1969–71 period) have been corrected with the help of a historical essay from the same website.[4]
Until March 1952, Roy did not represent any constituency. For his last three months in office, during the Third Assembly, Roy represented Chowringhee consistuency.
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.[4]
According to some sources, Sen also acted as interim chief minister during 2–8 July 1962.[8]
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.[9]
For the first 16 months Mamata Banerjee headed a coalition government that included ministers from Trinamool and the INC. After Trinamool quit the United Progressive Alliance in September 2012, INC members resigned from her ministry, which has consisted of only Trinamool members ever since.

References

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.
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.
Premiers/Chief Ministers of West Bengal. West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Archive link from 12 March 2016.
Brief Information on Previous Assemblies. West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Archive link from 12 March 2016.
List of Chief Ministers of West Bengal. Panchayat & Rural Development Department, Hooghly. Retrieved on 27 July 2018. Archived on 27 July 2018.
Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005. Archived on 16 August 2017.

Chief Ministers of West Bengal
Premiers (1947−50)	Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (1947−48) Bidhan Chandra Roy (1948−50)
Chief Ministers (1950 onwards)	Bidhan Chandra Roy (1950−62) Prafulla Chandra Sen (1962−67) Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee (1967, 1969−70, 1971) Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (1967−68) Siddhartha Shankar Ray (1972−77) Jyoti Basu (1977−2000) Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (2000−2011) Mamata Banerjee (2011−present)