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 ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, an

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 ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

, is the head of the Government of Assam. As per 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 ...

, 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 the 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. Following elections to the

Assam Legislative Assembly The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Guwahati, the capital city of Assam, geographically situated in present Western Assam region. The Legislative Assembly comprises 126 Me ...

, 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 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 ...

Durga Das Basu Durga Das Basu (1910–1997) was an Indian jurist and lawyer. He wrote the ''Commentary on the Constitution of India'' and ''Casebook on the Indian Constitutional Law''. The former is one of the most important textbooks in social sciences and le ...

. ''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 Assam as well. Since 1946, Assam has had 17 chief ministers. Ten of these belonged to the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

, including

Gopinath Bordoloi Gopinath Bordoloi (6 June 1890 – 5 August 1950) was a politician and Indian independence activist who served as the first Chief Minister of Assam. He was a follower of the Gandhian principle of non-violence as a political tool. Due to his un ...

, the first Chief Minister of Assam, and Anwara Taimur, India's first female Muslim chief minister. Congress monopoly in the state was brought to an end when

Golap Borbora Golap Borbora ( as, গোলাপ বৰবৰা; 29 August 1926 – 19 March 2006) was a chief minister of Indian state of Assam from 1978 to 1979. He was the first non congress chief minister of Assam. Borbora was a member of Rajya Sabha be ...

led the Janata party to victory in the 1978 assembly elections. Borbora consequently became the first non congress Chief Minister of Assam. Prior to that, Borbora was the first member of the non congress opposition to be elected as a Rajya Sabha member from Assam. Congressman Tarun Gogoi is the longest-serving officeholder, having served for 15 years from 2001 to 2016. Sarbananda Sonowal became the Assam's first chief minister from 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 Mod ...

BJP when he was sworn in on 24 May 2016. On 9 May 2021,

Himanta Biswa Sarma Himanta Biswa Sarma (born 1 February 1969) is an Indian politician serving as the 15th and incumbent Chief Minister of Assam. A former member of the Indian National Congress political party. Sarma joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on 23 Augus ...

is announced as the 15th Chief Minister of Assam.

Premiers (1937-50)

Under the Government of India Act 1935, a bicameral legislature was set up with a legislative assembly and a legislative council. The premier of Assam was the head of the government and leader of the legislative assembly of

Assam Province Assam Province was a province of British India, created in 1912 by the partition of the Eastern Bengal and Assam Province. Its capital was in Shillong. The Assam territory was first separated from Bengal in 1874 as the 'North-East Frontier' n ...

Chief ministers

;Notes

Timeline

References

{{Use Indian English, date=August 2013

Chief Ministers

Premiers (1937-50)

Chief ministers

Timeline

See also

References