Chief Minister of Assam

Chief Minister of Assam
Emblem of Assam
Incumbent Himanta Biswa Sarma since 10 May 2021
Status	Head of government
Abbreviation	CM
Member of	Assam Legislative Assembly Assam Council of Ministers
Reports to	Governor of Assam
Appointer	Governor of Assam
Term length	At the confidence of the Assembly Five years and is subject to no term limits. [1]
Precursor	Premier of Assam
Inaugural holder	Gopinath Bordoloi
Formation	26 January 1950 (75 years ago) (1950-01-26)
Deputy	Deputy Chief Minister of Assam

The chief minister of Assam, an Indian state, is the head of the government of Assam. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is the state's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Assam Legislative Assembly, 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 limits. ^[1]

Since 1946, Assam has had 17 chief ministers. Ten of them belonged to the Indian National Congress, including Gopinath Bordoloi, the first chief minister of Assam, and Anwara Taimur, India's first female Muslim chief minister. Congress party's continuous rule in the state was brought to an end when Golap Borbora led the Janata party to victory in the 1978 elections. Borbora consequently became the first non-Congress chief minister of the state. Prior to that, Borbora was also the first non-Congress leader to be elected to the Rajya Sabha from the state. Congressman Tarun Gogoi is the longest-serving officeholder, having served for 15 years between 2001 and 2016. Sarbananda Sonowal became the first chief minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party, when he was sworn in on 24 May 2016. On 9 May 2021, Himanta Biswa Sarma was announced as the 15th chief minister of Assam. ^[2]

Prime Ministers of Assam (1935–1950)

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.

# [a]	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Term of office [3]			Assembly	Party [b] (coalition)
1		Muhammed Saadulah	Kamrup (South)	1 April 1937	19 September 1938	1 year, 171 days	1st Provincial (1937 election)	Assam Valley Party (INC)
2		Gopinath Bordoloi	Kamrup Sadar (South)	19 September 1938	17 November 1939	1 year, 59 days		Indian National Congress
(1)		Muhammed Saadulah	Kamrup (South)	17 November 1939	24 December 1941	2 years, 37 days		Assam Valley Party (AIML)
-	-	Vacant (Governor's Rule)	-	25 December 1941	24 August 1942	242 days	Dissolved	N/A
(1)		Muhammed Saadulah	Kamrup (South)	25 August 1942	11 February 1946	3 years, 170 days	1st Provincial (1937 election)	Assam Valley Party (AIML)
(2)		Gopinath Bordoloi	Kamrup Sadar (South)	11 February 1946	25 January 1950	3 years, 349 days	2nd Provincial (1946 election)	Indian National Congress

Chief Ministers of Assam (1950–present)

• ^† Died in office
• ^§ Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term

#	Portrait		Chief Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Election	Term of office			Political party	Ministry
					From	To	Period
1			Gopinath Bordoloi (1890–1950) MLA for Kamrup Sadar (South)	1946 (Provincial)	26 January 1950	5 August 1950 [†]	191 days	Indian National Congress	Bordoloi
2			Bishnuram Medhi (1888–1981) MLA for Hajo (from 1951)		9 August 1950	28 December 1957	7 years, 141 days		Medhi I
				1952					Medhi II
				1957					Medhi III
3			Bimala Prasad Chaliha (1912–1971) MLA for Badarpur (until 1962) MLA for Sonari (from 1962)		28 December 1957	11 November 1970	12 years, 348 days		Chaliha I
				1962					Chaliha II
				1967					Chaliha III
4			Mahendra Mohan Choudhry (1909–1982) MLA for Gauhati East		11 November 1970	31 January 1972	1 year, 81 days		Choudhry
5			Sarat Chandra Singha (1914–2005) MLA for Bilasipara East	1972	31 January 1972	12 March 1978	6 years, 40 days		Sinha
6			Golap Borbora (1925–2006) MLA for Tinsukia	1978	12 March 1978	9 September 1979	1 year, 181 days	Janata Party	Borbora
7			Jogendra Nath Hazarika (1924–1998) MLA for Duliajan		9 September 1979	11 December 1979	93 days		Hazarika
Position vacant (12 December 1979 –5 December 1980) President's rule was imposed during this period [c]
8			Anwara Taimur (1936–2020) MLA for Dalgaon	–	6 December 1980	30 June 1981	206 days	Indian National Congress	Taimur
Position vacant (30 June 1981 –13 January 1982) President's rule was imposed during this period [c]
9			Kesab Chandra Gogoi (1925–1998) MLA for Dibrugarh	–	13 January 1982	19 March 1982	65 days	Indian National Congress	Kesab
Position vacant (19 March 1982 –27 February 1983) President's rule was imposed during this period [c]
10			Hiteswar Saikia (1934–1996) MLA for Nazira	1983	27 February 1983	24 December 1985	2 years, 300 days	Indian National Congress	Saikia I
11			Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (born 1952) MLA for Nowgong	1985	24 December 1985	28 November 1990	4 years, 339 days	Asom Gana Parishad	Mahanta I
Position vacant (28 November 1990 –30 June 1991) President's rule was imposed during this period [c]
(10)			Hiteswar Saikia (1934–1996) MLA for Nazira	1991	30 June 1991 [§]	22 April 1996 [†]	4 years, 297 days	Indian National Congress	Saikia II
12			Bhumidhar Barman (1931–2021) MLA for Barkhetry		22 April 1996	15 May 1996	23 days		Barman
(11)			Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (born 1952) MLA for Barhampur	1996	15 May 1996 [§]	18 May 2001	5 years, 3 days	Asom Gana Parishad	Mahanta II
13			Tarun Gogoi (1934–2020) MLA for Titabar	2001	18 May 2001	24 May 2016	15 years, 6 days	Indian National Congress	Tarun I
				2006					Tarun II
				2011					Tarun III
14			Sarbananda Sonowal (born 1962) MLA for Majuli	2016	24 May 2016	10 May 2021	4 years, 351 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Sonowal
15			Himanta Biswa Sarma (born 1969) MLA for Jalukbari	2021	10 May 2021	Incumbent	4 years, 135 days		Sarma

Statistics

List by chief minister

#	Chief Minister	Party		Term of office
				Longest continuous term	Total duration of chief ministership
1	Tarun Gogoi		INC	15 years, 6 days	15 years, 6 days
2	Bimala Prasad Chaliha		INC	12 years, 318 days	12 years, 318 days
3	Prafulla Kumar Mahanta		AGP	5 years, 3 days	9 years, 342 days
4	Hiteswar Saikia		INC	4 years, 297 days	7 years, 232 days
5	Bishnuram Medhi		INC	7 years, 141 days	7 years, 141 days
6	Sarat Chandra Sinha		INC	6 years, 40 days	6 years, 40 days
7	Sarbananda Sonowal		BJP	4 years, 351 days	4 years, 351 days
8	Himanta Biswa Sarma *		BJP*	4 years, 135 days*	4 years, 135 days*
9	Golap Borbora		JP	1 year, 181 days	1 year, 181 days
10	Mahendra Mohan Choudhry		INC	1 year, 81 days	1 year, 81 days
11	Anwara Taimur		INC	0 year, 206 days	0 year, 206 days
12	Gopinath Bordoloi		INC	0 year, 192 days	0 year, 192 days
13	Kesab Chandra Gogoi		INC	0 year, 65 days	0 year, 65 days
14	Jogendra Nath Hazarika		JP	0 year, 93 days	0 year, 93 days
15	Bhumidhar Barman		INC	0 year, 23 days	0 year, 23 days

Timeline

Fraction of time of holding Chief minister's office by party (as of October 2024)

1. Bharatiya Janata Party (11.2%)
2. Indian National Congress (69.0%)
3. Asom Gana Parishad (13.3%)
4. Janata Party (2.34%)
5. President's Rule (4.09%)

See also

• List of current Indian chief ministers
• List of governors of Assam

Notes

1. A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
2. This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
3. When President's rule is in force in a state, its council of ministers stands dissolved. The office of chief minister thus lies vacant. At times, the legislative assembly also stands dissolved. ^[4]

References

1. Durga Das Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India. 1960. 20th Edition, 2011 Reprint. pp. 241, 245. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. ISBN   978-81-8038-559-9. Note: although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Assam as well.
2. "Himanta Biswa Sarma Crowned 15th Chief Minister Of Assam". Pratidin Time. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
3. Chief Ministers Archived 16 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine from the Assam Assembly website
4. Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005. Retrieved on 3 March 2013.