List of female Indian chief ministers
Sixteen women have served as the chief minister of an Indian state and union territory. Currently, one is in office — Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal. Of the thirteen states and union territories to have been headed by a female chief minister, only three—Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh—have had two women chief ministers each. Five of the women chief ministers belonged to the Indian National Congress, four to the Bharatiya Janata Party and two to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, no other party has ever had more than one female chief minister in office.
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In the Republic of India, a chief minister is the head of government of each of twenty-eight states and three of the eight union territories[1](Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry). According to the Constitution of India, at the state-level, the governor is de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the state legislative assembly, the governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the state government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years; the office is subject to no term limits.[2]
Chronological list of female Indian chief ministers
- Key
- * incumbent chief minister
- † Died in office
| S. No. | Name | Portrait | State | Term(s) | Total tenure (days) | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sucheta Kripalani (25 June 1908 – 1 December 1974) |
Uttar Pradesh | 2 October 1963 – 13 March 1967 | 1258 | Indian National Congress, | ||
| 2 | Nandini Satpathy (9 June 1931 – 4 August 2006) |
 |
Odisha | 14 June 1972 – 3 March 1973 6 March 1974 – 16 December 1976 |
1278 | Indian National Congress | |
| 3 | Shashikala Kakodkar (7 January 1935 – 28 October 2016) |
 |
Goa | 12 August 1973 – 27 April 1979 | 2084 | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | |
| 4 | Anwara Taimur (b. 24 November 1936) |
Assam | 6 December 1980 – 30 June 1981 | 206 | Indian National Congress | ||
| 5 | V. N. Janaki Ramachandran (30 November 1923 - 19 May 1996) |
 |
Tamil Nadu | 7 January 1988 – 30 January 1988 | 23 | All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |
| 6 | J. Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) |
 |
Tamil Nadu | 24 June 1991 – 12 May 1996 14 May 2001 – 21 September 2001 2 March 2002 – 12 May 2006 16 May 2011 – 27 September 2014 23 May 2015 – 5 December 2016[†] |
5238 | All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |
| 7 | Mayawati (b. 15 January 1956) |
 |
Uttar Pradesh | 13 June 1995 – 18 October 1995 21 March 1997 – 21 September 1997 3 May 2002 – 29 August 2003 13 May 2007 – 15 March 2012 |
2562 | Bahujan Samaj Party | |
| 8 | Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (b. 30 September 1945) |
 |
Punjab | 21 November 1996 – 12 February 1997 | 83 | Indian National Congress | |
| 9 | Rabri Devi (1 January 1959-) |
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Bihar | 25 July 1997 – 11 February 1999 9 March 1999 – 2 March 2000 11 March 2000 – 6 March 2005 |
2746 | Rashtriya Janata Dal | |
| 10 | Sushma Swaraj (14 February 1953 – 6 August 2019) |
 |
Delhi | 13 October 1998 – 3 December 1998 | 51 | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
| 11 | Sheila Dikshit (31 March 1938 – 20 July 2019) |
 |
Delhi | 4 December 1998 – 27 December 2013 | 5502 | Indian National Congress | |
| 12 | Uma Bharti (b. 3 May 1959) |
 |
Madhya Pradesh | 8 December 2003 – 23 August 2004 | 259 | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
| 13 | Vasundhara Raje (b. 8 March 1953) |
 |
Rajasthan | 8 December 2003 – 18 December 2008 8 December 2013 – 17 December 2018 |
3667 | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
| 14 | Mamata Banerjee* (b. 5 January 1955) |
|
West Bengal | 20 May 2011 – present | 3375 | All India Trinamool Congress | |
| 15 | Anandiben Patel (b. 21 November 1941) |
 |
Gujarat | 22 May 2014 – 7 August 2016 | 808 | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
| 16 | Mehbooba Mufti (b. 22 May 1959) |
 |
Jammu and Kashmir | 4 April 2016 – 20 June 2018 | 807 | Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party | |
See also
- List of female Indian governors and lieutenant governors
- List of female judges of the Supreme Court of India
- List of current Indian chief ministers
- List of current Indian deputy chief ministers
- List of longest-serving Indian chief ministers
- List of chief ministers from the Bharatiya Janata Party
- List of chief ministers from the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
- List of chief ministers from the Indian National Congress
References
- Kulshrestha, Surender Kumar (2014). "Socioeconomic Inclusion of Indian States and UTs". Journal of Exclusion Studies. 4 (1): 75. doi:10.5958/2231-4555.2014.00216.2. ISSN 2231-4547.
- 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.