List of chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh
The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh is the chief executive of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. As per 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 Himachal Pradesh 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 he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.[1]
Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh | |
---|---|
Status | Head of Government |
Abbreviation | CM |
Member of | Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly |
Reports to | Governor of Himachal Pradesh |
Residence | Oakover, Shimla |
Appointer | Governor of Himachal Pradesh |
Term length | At the confidence of the assembly Chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.[1] |
Inaugural holder | Yashwant Singh Parmar |
Formation | 8 March 1952 |
Since 1952, six people have been Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. Three of these belonged to the Indian National Congress party, including inaugural office-holder Yashwant Singh Parmar. After his first term ended in 1956, Himachal Pradesh was made a union territory, and the office of Chief Minister ceased to exist. In 1963, Parmar once again became Chief Minister, and during his reign, in 1971, Himachal regained full statehood. Until March 2015, when he was surpassed by Virbhadra Singh, Parmar was the state's longest-serving chief minister. Between 1993-2017, the chief ministership has changed hands every five years between Virbhadra Singh of the Congress and Prem Kumar Dhumal of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The current incumbent is Jai Ram Thakur of the Bharatiya Janata Party having been sworn in on 27 December 2017.
Chief Ministers of Himachal Pradesh
No[lower-alpha 1] | Name | Portrait | Constituency | Term of office | Assembly
(election) |
Party[lower-alpha 2] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
From | To | Days in office | |||||||
1 | Yashwant Singh Parmar | ![]() |
Pachhad | 8 March 1952 | 31 October 1956 | 4 years, 237 days | Indian National Congress | ||
Office abolished, 1956–63 | |||||||||
(1) | Yashwant Singh Parmar | ![]() |
Renuka | 1 July 1963 | 28 January 1977 | 13 years, 211 days | Indian National Congress | ||
2 | Thakur Ram Lal | ![]() |
Jubbal Kotkhai | 28 January 1977 | 30 April 1977 | 92 days | |||
– | Vacant[lower-alpha 3] (President's rule) |
![]() |
N/A | 30 April 1977 | 22 June 1977 | 53 days | N/A | ||
3 | Shanta Kumar | ![]() |
Sullah | 22 June 1977 | 14 February 1980 | 2 years, 237 days | Janata Party | ||
(2) | Thakur Ram Lal [2] | ![]() |
Jubbal Kotkhai | 14 February 1980 | 7 April 1983 | 3 years, 52 days | Indian National Congress | ||
4 | Virbhadra Singh | ![]() |
Jubbal Kotkhai | 8 April 1983 | 8 March 1985 | 1 year, 334 days | |||
8 March 1985 | 5 March 1990 | 4 years, 362 days | Sixth Assembly (1985–90) | ||||||
(3) | Shanta Kumar [2] | ![]() |
Palampur | 5 March 1990 | 15 December 1992 | 2 years, 285 days | Seventh Assembly
(1990–92) |
Bharatiya Janata Party | |
– | Vacant[lower-alpha 3] (President's rule) |
![]() |
N/A | 15 December 1992 | 3 December 1993 | 353 days | N/A | ||
(4) | Virbhadra Singh [3] | ![]() |
Rohru | 3 December 1993 | 23 March 1998 | 4 years, 110 days | Eighth Assembly
(1993–1998) |
Indian National Congress | |
5 | Prem Kumar Dhumal [1] | ![]() |
Bamsan | 24 March 1998 | 5 March 2003 | 4 years, 346 days | Ninth Assembly
(1998–2003) |
Bharatiya Janata Party | |
(4) | Virbhadra Singh [4] | ![]() |
Rohru | 6 March 2003 | 30 December 2007 | 4 years, 299 days | Tenth Assembly
(2003–07) |
Indian National Congress | |
(5) | Prem Kumar Dhumal [2] | ![]() |
Bamsan | 30 December 2007 | 25 December 2012 | 4 years, 361 days | Eleventh Assembly
(2007–2012) |
Bharatiya Janata Party | |
(4) | Virbhadra Singh [5] | ![]() |
Shimla Rural | 25 December 2012 | 27 December 2017 | 5 years, 2 days | Twelfth Assembly
(2012–2017) |
Indian National Congress | |
6 | Jai Ram Thakur | ![]() |
Seraj | 27 December 2017 | Incumbent | 3 years, 39 days | Thirteenth Assembly
(2017– ) |
Bharatiya Janata Party |
Notes
- Footnotes
- A number inside brackets indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
- This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he headed may have been a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
- 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.[2]
- References
- 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 Himachal Pradesh as well.
- Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005. Retrieved on 3 March 2013.