The chief minister of Sikkim is the head of the executive branch of the

Government of Sikkim The Government of Sikkim also known as the State Government of Sikkim is the subnational government of the Indian state of Sikkim and its 6 districts, created by the National Constitution as the legislative, executive and judicial authority to ...

, the subnational authority 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

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Silig ...

. The chief minister acts as the

head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, ...

in the state, chairs the Council of Ministers and governs with the

confidence Confidence is a state of being clear-headed either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Confidence comes from a Latin word 'fidere' which means "to trust"; therefore, having ...

of a majority in the elected

Sikkim Legislative Assembly The Sikkim Legislative Assembly is the unicameral state legislature of Sikkim state in north-eastern India. The seat of the Legislative Assembly is at Gangtok, the capital of the Sikkim state. History Sikkim became the 22nd state of India by ...

. Following elections to the

, the governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. As such, the chief minister typically sits as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...

(MLA) and leads the largest party or a coalition of parties. 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 nati ...

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 ...

s. Since 1974, Sikkim has had five chief ministers. The first was

Kazi Lhendup Dorjee Kazi Lhendup Dorjee (11 October 1904 – 28 July 2007), also spelled Lhendup Dorji or Lhendup Dorji Khangsarpa, was the first chief minister of Sikkim from 1975 to 1979 after its union with India. Early life Lhendup Dorjee was born in 1904 in P ...

of 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 ...

Pawan Kumar Chamling Pawan Kumar Chamling (born 22 September 1949) is an Indian politician and the former Chief Minister of Sikkim. Chamling is the Founding President of the Sikkim Democratic Front, which governed the state for five successive terms since 1994. Ch ...

of the

Sikkim Democratic Front Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Sikkim. It was the ruling party in Sikkim from 12 December 1994 to 23 May 2019. History The party was founded by Pawan Kumar Chamling in 1993. It has ruled th ...

was the longest serving Chief Minister of Sikkim from 1994 to 2019. He occupied the office longer than all his predecessors put together and currently holds the record for longest serving CM in India. The 24 year old rule of

ended in the 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections where

Sikkim Krantikari Morcha Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (translation: ''Sikkim Revolutionary Front'') is a political party in the Indian state of Sikkim which was the ruling party of Sikkim in 2020. P.S. Golay, a former member of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly, was one of ...

emerged victorious.

Prem Singh Tamang Prem Singh Tamang (born 5 February 1968), better known as P. S. Golay, is an Indian politician and the current Chief Minister of Sikkim and founding leader of the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM). Before forming the party, he was a key member of ...

List of officeholders

Timeline

Notes

References

External links