The chief minister of the National Capital Territory of Delhi is the

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

of the

National Capital Territory of Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. According to the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...

, the

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

is the National Capital Territory of Delhi's ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

'' head, but '' de facto'' executive authority rests with its

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 ter ...

. Following elections to the

Delhi Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi is the unicameral legislature of the union territory of Delhi in India. Delhi Legislative Assembly is the legislative arm of the Government of Delhi. At present, it consists ...

, the

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

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

usually invites the party 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 (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. The

president of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

, on the advice of the lieutenant governor, appoints the chief minister, whose

council of ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given that the person 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 on the number of terms a person 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 potential for monopoly, w ...

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 l ...

. ''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 to the specific case of Telangana as well. A member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), she has been serving as the MLA from Shalimar Bagh since 2025

History

Since 1952, the National Capital Territory of Delhi has had 7 chief ministers, starting with the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

party's Chaudhary Brahm Prakash. The office of the chief minister was abolished for 37 years after the States Reorganisation Act of 1956. In 1991, growing demand for self-governance led to the 69th Amendment to the Indian Constitution which granted Delhi National Capital Territory (NCT) status and an elected legislature. First election after 37 years was held in November 1993 and Madan Lal Khurana of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

was sworn in as the chief minister. The longest-serving chief minister,

Sheila Dikshit Sheila Dikshit () (née Kapoor; 31 March 1938 – 20 July 2019) was an Indian politician. The longest-serving chief minister of Delhi, as well as the longest-serving female chief minister in Indian history, she served for a period of 15 year ...

from the Indian National Congress party, held the office for over fifteen years. On 28 December 2013,

Arvind Kejriwal Arvind Kejriwal (; born 16 August 1968) is an Indian politician, activist and former bureaucrat, who served as the 7th Chief Minister of Delhi. He was the chief minister from 2013 to 2014 and from 2015 to 2024. He is also the national conve ...

Aam Aadmi Party The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP, ) is a List of political parties in India, political party in India. It was founded on 26 November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal and his then-companions, following the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement against then gover ...

sworn in as first state party chief minister of the national capital territory. There has been one instance of president's rule in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, most recently in 2015. In the 2025 assembly chooses

Rekha Gupta Rekha Gupta ( Jindal; born 19 July 1974) is an Indian politician who is serving as the 9th Chief Minister of Delhi since 20 February 2025. She is the fourth woman to hold this post after Sushma Swaraj, Sheila Dikshit and Atishi Marlena. A m ...

from BJP as the 4th women chief minister of Delhi-NCT.

Official residence

Since 2014, the Chief Minister has resided at

Bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

6 at Flagstaff Road in

Central Delhi Central Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India. It is bounded by the Yamuna River on the east and by the districts of North Delhi to the north, West Delhi and North West Delhi to the west, New Del ...

. The location is close to the Delhi Secretariat.

List

Statistics

;List of chief ministers by length of term ;List by party ;Parties by total duration (in days) of holding Chief Minister's Office

Notes

References

External links

Official Website of the Chief Minister Office
{{Delhi

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Chief ministers