The chief minister of West Bengal (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: Paścim Baṅgēr Mukhya Mantrī) is the '' de facto'' head of the executive branch of the

Government of West Bengal The Government of West Bengal, also known as the West Bengal Government, is the Administrative division, principal administrative authority of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal, created by the Constitution ...

, the subnational authority of the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. The chief minister is head of the Council of Ministers and appoints ministers. The chief minister, along with their cabinet, exercises executive authority in the state. The 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. On 17 August 1947, the British Indian province of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

was partitioned into the Pakistani province of

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

and the Indian state of

. Since then West Bengal has had seven chief ministers, starting with

Prafulla Chandra Ghosh Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (24 December 1891 – 18 December 1983) was the first Premier of West Bengal, India from 15 August 1947 to 14 August 1948. He also served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal in the "Progressive Democratic Alliance Fron ...

of 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 ...

(INC) party as the ''premier'' (elected to lead the assembly while the chief minister is not appointed). Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy in 1950 became the first formal chief minister of West Bengal after the implementation of the

Indian Constitution The Constitution of India is the supreme 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, powers, and ...

. A period of political instability followed thereafter—West Bengal witnessed three elections, four coalition governments and three stints of President's rule between 1967 and 1972—before Siddhartha Shankar Ray of the INC served a five-year term.Origin and Growth of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly
West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Retrieved on 27 July 2018.
Note: In case of an error, please click the "Origin & Growth" button in the top left of the website. The landslide victory of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

-led Left Front in the 1977 election began Jyoti Basu's 23-year continuous reign as chief minister. The length of his tenure was an all-India record until 2018, when he was surpassed by Sikkim's

Pawan Kumar Chamling Pawan Kumar Chamling Rai (born 22 September 1950) is an Indian politician and writer who served as the 5th Chief Minister of Sikkim from 1994 to 2019. He is the List of longest-serving Indian chief ministers, longest serving Chief Minister in ...

.Pawan Kumar Chamling crosses Jyoti Basu's record as longest-serving Chief Minister
". ''The Hindu''. 29 April 201
Archived
on 31 July 2018. Basu's successor Buddhadeb Bhattacharya continued the communist rule in West Bengal for another decade, when the Left Front was defeated in the 2011 election by the

Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (; AITC), simply known as Trinamool Congress, is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the Federated state, state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a Lis ...

, thereby ending the 34-year long rule of the Left Front government, a fact that was noted by the international media. Sworn in on 20 May 2011, Trinamool Congress leader

Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 2 ...

is West Bengal's incumbent chief minister, the first woman to hold the office. She was subsequently voted to power in 2016 and 2021 assembly elections. She is one of the two female incumbent chief ministers in India as of 2024.

Key

Key

List

Premiers of West Bengal (1947–50)

Chief ministers of West Bengal (1950–present)

Statistics

See also

Footnotes

References

Further reading