The Chief Minister of Jharkhand is the chief executive of the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

. In accordance with the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ri ...

, the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

is a state's ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...

'' head, but ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' executive authority rests with the

chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

. Following elections to the legislative assembly, the state's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose

council of ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

s. Durga Das Basu. ''Introduction to the Constitution of India''. 1960. 20th Edition, 2011 Reprint. pp. 241, 245. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. . Note: although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Jharkhand as well. Six people have served as the state's chief minister since Jharkhand's formation on 15 November 2000. Half of them, including the inaugural officeholder

Babulal Marandi Babulal Marandi (; born 11 January 1958) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was the first Chief Minister of Jharkhand and current Leader of the Opposition in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. He was the founder a ...

, represented the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

(BJP). His successor

Arjun Munda Arjun Munda (born 3 May 1968) is an Indian politician. He is the current Minister of Tribal Affairs in the Second Modi ministry. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was also Chief Minister of Indian state of Jharkhand. He has also ...

, also from the BJP, is the longest-serving chief minister; he served for over five years, across three terms but never completed a full term. Two chief ministers,

Shibu Soren Shibu Soren ( Santali: ᱥᱤᱵᱩ ᱥᱚᱨᱮᱱ) (born 11 January 1944) is an Indian politician who thrice served as Chief Minister of Jharkhand, first in 2005 for 10 days (2 March to 12 March), then from 2008 to 2009 and again from 2009 to ...

and his son

Hemant Soren Hemant Soren (born 10 August 1975) is an Indian politician from Jharkhand, who is currently the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Previously, he had also served as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand from July 2013 to December 2014. He is also the presid ...

, represented the

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ( lit. ''Jharkhand Liberation Front''; JMM) is a State political party in the Indian state of Jharkhand which was founded by Binod Bihari Mahato. It has one seat in the 17th Lok Sabha. Shibu Soren is the president of th ...

(JMM). Shibu Soren's first term ended in just ten days, as he could not prove that he had the support of a majority of the house and was forced to resign. The state has also been governed by

Madhu Koda Madhu Koda (born 6 January 1971) is an Indian politician who had served as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand from 2006 to 2008 (UPA alliance). He was sworn in as the fourth Chief Minister of Jharkhand on 14 September 2006, and remained in offic ...

, one of the few independents to become the chief minister of any state. In between their reigns, the state has also been under

President's rule In India, President's rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Union government rule in a state. Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitutional ...

three times.

Raghubar Das Raghubar Das (born 3 May 1955) is an Indian politician who served as the sixth Chief Minister of Jharkhand. He was sworn in as the 6th chief minister of Jharkhand on 28 December 2014. He belongs to Bharatiya Janata Party and has twice served as ...

, of the BJP, was the first chief minister to complete a full term in the state.

of the

is the incumbent chief minister.

Chief Ministers of Jharkhand

Timeline

Notes

References

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Chief Ministers