List of Chief Ministers of Punjab (India)

Chief Minister of Punjab
Seal of Punjab
Incumbent Parkash Singh Badal since 1 March 2007
Appointer	Governor of Punjab
Inaugural holder	Gopi Chand Bhargava
Formation	15 August 1947

The Chief Minister of Punjab, a north Indian state, is the head of the Government of Punjab. As per the Constitution of India, the Governor of Punjab is the state's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Punjab Legislative Assembly, the 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]

Since 1947, Punjab has had fifteen chief ministers. The first was Gopi Chand Bhargava of the Indian National Congress party, who was sworn-in on 15 August 1947, when India gained independence from the British. He was succeeded by fellow Congressman Bhim Sen Sachar, who was then subsequently replaced after 188 days by former Chief Minister Gopi Chand Bhargava. After a brief term, President Rajendra Prasad placed the Punjab Legislative Assembly under suspension for ninth months to help the state government gets its act together. In 1952, the first state elections took place for the Legislative Assembly. The results of the election saw the return of the Congress government with former Chief Minister Bhim Sen Sachar as its leader. After he resigned in 1956, Partap Singh Kairon became chief minister. Serving until 1964, Khairon remain's one of Punjab's longest-serving chief ministers. He was followed by the returning Chief Minister Gopi Chand Bhargava, who briefly held office as acting chief minister for only 15 days. In July 1964, Ram Kishan assumed the office and served for two years. His tenure was followed by the President's rule which lasted for 119 days. During this time, the state of Haryana was separated from Punjab.

The first chief minister of the newly re-configured state was Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir who led a Congress government from the Vidhan Parishad, one of only two to have done so. In the 1967 elections, he was voted out of power in favour of the Akali Das Sant Fateh Singh Group whose leader Gurnam Singh became the first non-Congress chief minister. Gurnam Singh's government was succeeded by three short-lived Akali Dal governments—Lachhman Singh Gill's government for less than a year and for a little more than a year under the returning Gurnam Singh and Parkash Singh Badal. After 272 days under President's rule, the Congress party returned to power under future President Zail Singh. In 1977, Parkash Singh Badal became the chief minister for the second time. Darbara Singh became chief minister in 1980 and remained in office for three years before a long period under President's rule. A brief interlude under Surjit Singh Barnala followed, after which three Congress-led governments took office—led by Beant Singh from 1992 to 1995, Harcharan Singh Brar from 1995 to 1996 and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal from 1996 to 1997. Upon taking office, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal became the first female chief minister of Punjab and overall the 8th female chief minister in India.

Parkash Singh Badal assumed office for the third time in 1997 and became the first chief minister since Kairon's resignation in 1964 in to serve a full term. Badal was succeeded by Congressman Amarinder Singh, who also successfully served a full term. The incumbent Chief Minister of Punjab is Parkash Singh Badal who has headed an Akali Dal-BJP coalition government since 1 March 2007 and is the longest-serving chief minister with over 15 years in office.

Key

Colour key for party of the chief minister   Indian National Congress designated Indian National Congress (I) 1977–1996[2]   Shiromani Akali Dal divided into Akali Das Sant Fateh Singh Group and Akali Dal Master Tara Singh Group for 1967 elections[3]

Other key №: Incumbent number ^† Assassinated or died in office ^§ Returned to office after a previous term ^RES Resigned

Chief Ministers of Punjab

№	Name (birth–death); constituency	Portrait	Party[lower-alpha 1]	Term of office			Elections (Vidhan Sabha)	Appointed by(Governor)
1	Gopi Chand Bhargava (1889–1966) MLA for Pundri		Indian National Congress	15 August 1947	13 April 1949^[RES]	1 year, 241 days	—	Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi
2	Bhim Sen Sachar (1894–1978) MLA for Ludhiana City South		Indian National Congress	13 April 1949	18 October 1949^[RES]	188 days	—
(1)	Gopi Chand Bhargava (1889–1966) MLA for Pundri		Indian National Congress	18 October 1949^[§]	20 June 1951	1 year, 245 days	—
-	Vacant[lower-alpha 2] (President's rule)		None	20 June 1951	17 April 1952	302 days	—	Rajendra Prasad
(2)	Bhim Sen Sachar (1894–1978) MLA for Ludhiana City South		Indian National Congress	17 April 1952^[§]	23 January 1956^[RES]	3 years, 281 days	1952 (1st)	Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi
3	Partap Singh Kairon (1901–1965) MLA for Sujanpur		Indian National Congress	23 January 1956	21 June 1964^[RES]	8 years, 150 days	— (1st)	Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh
							1957 (2nd)
							1962 (3rd)	Narhar Vishnu Gadgil
(1)	Gopi Chand Bhargava (1889–1966) MLC in Vidhan Parishad		Indian National Congress	21 June 1964^[§]	6 July 1964^[RES]	15 days	— (3rd)	Hafiz Mohamad Ibrahim
4	Ram Kishan MLA for Jullundur City North East		Indian National Congress	7 July 1964	5 July 1966	1 year, 363 days	— (3rd)
-	Vacant[lower-alpha 2] (President's rule)		None	5 July 1966	1 November 1966	119 days	—	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Chief Minister of Punjab (After separation of Haryana)
5	Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir (1899–1976) MLC in Vidhan Parishad		Indian National Congress	1 November 1966	8 March 1967	127 days	— (3rd)	Dharma Vira
6	Gurnam Singh (1899–1973) MLA for Qila Raipur		Akali Das Sant Fateh Singh Group	8 March 1967	25 November 1967^[RES]	262 days	1967 (4th)
7	Lachhman Singh Gill (1917–1969) MLA for Dharamkot		Shiromani Akali Dal	25 November 1967	23 August 1968	272 days	— (4th)	D. C. Pavate
-	Vacant[lower-alpha 2] (President's rule)		None	23 August 1968	17 February 1969	178 days	—	Zakir Hussain
(6)	Gurnam Singh (1899–1973) MLA for Qila Raipur		Shiromani Akali Dal	17 February 1969^[§]	27 March 1970^[RES]	1 year, 38 days	1969 (5th)	D. C. Pavate
8	Parkash Singh Badal (born 1927) MLA for Giddarbaha		Shiromani Akali Dal	27 March 1970	14 June 1971	1 year, 79 days	— (5th)
-	Vacant[lower-alpha 2] (President's rule)		None	14 June 1971	17 March 1972	277 days	—	V. V. Giri
9	Zail Singh (1916–1994) MLA for Anandpur Sahib		Indian National Congress	17 March 1972	30 April 1977	5 years, 44 days	1972 (6th)	D. C. Pavate
-	Vacant[lower-alpha 2] (President's rule)		None	30 April 1977	20 June 1977	51 days	—	B. D. Jatti
(8)	Parkash Singh Badal (born 1927) MLA for Giddarbaha		Shiromani Akali Dal	20 June 1977^[§]	17 February 1980	2 years, 242 days	1977 (7th)	Mahendra Mohan Choudhry
-	Vacant[lower-alpha 2] (President's rule)		None	17 February 1980	6 June 1980	110 days	—	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
10	Darbara Singh (1916–1990) MLA for Nakodar		Indian National Congress (I)	6 June 1980	10 October 1983	3 years, 126 days	1980 (8th)	Jaisukh lal Hathi
-	Vacant[lower-alpha 2] (President's rule)		None	10 October 1983	29 September 1985	1 year, 354 days	—	Zail Singh
11	Surjit Singh Barnala (born 1925) MLA for Barnala		Shiromani Akali Dal	29 September 1985	11 June 1987	1 year, 255 days	1985 (9th)	Arjun Singh
-	Vacant[lower-alpha 2] (President's rule)		None	11 June 1987	25 February 1992	4 years, 259 days	—	Zail Singh
12	Beant Singh (1922–1995) MLA for Jullundur Cantonment		Indian National Congress (I)	25 February 1992	31 August 1995^[†]	3 years, 187 days	1992 (10th)	Surendra Nath
13	Harcharan Singh Brar (1922–2009) MLA for Muktsar		Indian National Congress (I)	31 August 1995	21 January 1996^[RES]	143 days	— (10th)	B.K.N. Chhibber
14	Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (born 1945) MLA for Lehra		Indian National Congress (I)	21 January 1996	11 February 1997	1 year, 21 days	— (10th)
(8)	Parkash Singh Badal (born 1927) MLA for Lambi		Shiromani Akali Dal	12 February 1997^[§]	26 February 2002	5 years, 14 days	1997 (11th)
15	Amarinder Singh (born 1942) MLA for Patiala Town		Indian National Congress	26 February 2002	1 March 2007	5 years, 3 days	2002 (12th)	J. F. R. Jacob
(8)	Parkash Singh Badal (born 1927) MLA for Lambi		Shiromani Akali Dal	1 March 2007^[§]	Incumbent	9 years, 66 days	2007 (13th)	Sunith Francis Rodrigues
							2012 (14th)	Shivraj Patil

Living former chief ministers

As of May 2015, three former chief ministers were living, the oldest being Surjit Singh Barnala (1985–1987, born 1925). The most recent death of a former chief minister was that of Harcharan Singh Brar (1995–1996), on 6 September 2009.

Chief Minister	Term	Date of birth
Surjit Singh Barnala	1985–1987	October 21, 1925
Rajinder Kaur Bhattal	1996–1997	September 30, 1945
Amarinder Singh	2002–2007	March 11, 1942

Notes & References

Notes

1. This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
2. 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.^[4]

References

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. Note: although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Punjab as well.
2. "Indian National Congress". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
3. "Shiromani Akali Dal". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
4. Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005.

External links

• http://punjabassembly.nic.in/members/showcm.asp