List of chief ministers of Assam

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
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.
Precursor	Premier of Assam
Inaugural holder	Gopinath Bordoloi
Formation	26 January 1950; (74 years ago)
Deputy	Deputy Chief Minister of Assam

Last updated September 10, 2024

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 these 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 monopoly in the state was brought to an end when Golap Borbora 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, when he was sworn in on 24 May 2016. On 9 May 2021, Himanta Biswa Sarma is announced as the 15th Chief Minister of Assam.^[2]

Top left: Gopinath Bordoloi was the first chief minister of Assam.
Top center: Anwara Taimur was the first and only woman to serve as chief Minister.
Top right: Golap Borbora was the first non-Congress chief minister.
Bottom left: Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was the first non-Congress chief minister to complete a full 5 year term and the only non-Congress chief minister to date to have served on two occasions.
Bottom center: Tarun Gogoi was the longest serving chief minister for 15 years.
Bottom right: Himanta Biswa Sarma is the current chief minister.

Prime Ministers (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.

#^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Term of office^[3]			Assembly	Party^{[lower-alpha 2]} (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

Note: ^† Died in office

#^{[lower-alpha 3]}	Name	Constituency	Term of office^[4]			Assembly	Party^{[lower-alpha 4]}
1	Gopinath Bordoloi	Kamrup Sadar (South)	26 January 1950	6 August 1950	192 days	2nd Provincial (1946 election)	Indian National Congress
2	Bishnuram Medhi	Hajo	9 August 1950	28 December 1957	7 years, 141 days	2nd Provincial (1946 election)
						1st (1952 election)
						2nd (1957 election)
3	Bimala Prasad Chaliha	Badarpur	28 December 1957	11 November 1970	12 years, 318 days	2nd (1957 election)
		Sonari				3rd (1962 election)
		Sonari				4th (1967 election)
4	Mahendra Mohan Choudhry	Guwahati East	11 November 1970	31 January 1972	1 year, 81 days	4th (1967 election)
5	Sarat Chandra Sinha	Bilasipara East	31 January 1972	12 March 1978	6 years, 40 days	5th (1972 election)
6	Golap Borbora	Tinsukia	12 March 1978	9 September 1979	1 year, 181 days	6th (1978 election)	Janata Party
7	Jogendra Nath Hazarika	Duliajan	9 September 1979	11 December 1979	93 days		Janata Party
–	Vacant^{[lower-alpha 5]} (President's rule)	N/A	12 December 1979	5 December 1980	359 days		N/A
8	Anwara Taimur	Dalgaon	6 December 1980	30 June 1981	206 days		Indian National Congress
–	Vacant^{[lower-alpha 5]} (President's rule)	N/A	30 June 1981	13 January 1982	197 days		N/A
9	Kesab Chandra Gogoi	Dibrugarh	13 January 1982	19 March 1982	65 days		Indian National Congress
–	Vacant^{[lower-alpha 5]} (President's rule)	N/A	19 March 1982	27 February 1983	345 days	Dissolved	N/A
10	Hiteswar Saikia	Nazira	27 February 1983	24 December 1985	2 years, 300 days	7th (1983 election)	Indian National Congress
11	Prafulla Kumar Mahanta	Nowgong	24 December 1985	28 November 1990	4 years, 339 days	8th (1985 election)	Asom Gana Parishad
–	Vacant^{[lower-alpha 5]} (President's rule)	N/A	28 November 1990	30 June 1991	214 days	Dissolved	N/A
(10)	Hiteswar Saikia	Nazira	30 June 1991	22 April 1996^[†]	4 years, 297 days	9th (1991 election)	Indian National Congress
12	Bhumidhar Barman	Barkhetry	22 April 1996	15 May 1996	23 days	9th (1991 election)	Indian National Congress
(11)	Prafulla Kumar Mahanta	Barhampur	15 May 1996	18 May 2001	5 years, 3 days	10th (1996 election)	Asom Gana Parishad
13	Tarun Gogoi	Titabar	18 May 2001	24 May 2016	15 years, 6 days	11th (2001 election)	Indian National Congress
						12th (2006 election)
						13th (2011 election)
14	Sarbananda Sonowal	Majuli	24 May 2016	10 May 2021	4 years, 351 days	14th (2016 election)	Bharatiya Janata Party
15	Himanta Biswa Sarma	Jalukbari	10 May 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 122 days	15th (2021 election)	Bharatiya Janata Party

Timeline

Notes

↑ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
↑ 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.
↑ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
↑ 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.
1 2 3 4 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.^[5]

Related Research Articles

Asom Gana Parishad is a political party in the state of Assam, India. The AGP was formed following the historic Assam Accord of 1985 and formally launched at the Golaghat Convention held from 13 to 14 October 1985 in Golaghat, which also allowed Prafulla Kumar Mahanta who was the youngest chief minister of the state to be elected. The AGP has formed government twice once in 1985 then again in 1996. The popularity of AGP surged in the late 1980s but declined in the 2000s. After a 20-year gap, AGP, in alliance with NDA, won a Lok Sabha seat in 2024.

The Government of Assam or Assam Government abbreviated as GoAS, is the state government of the Indian state of Assam. It consists of the Governor appointed by the President of India as the head of the state, currently Lakshman Prasad Acharya. The head of government is the Chief Minister, currently Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is the leader of the group that commands a majority in the unicameral Assam Legislative Assembly. The Assam Assembly is elected by universal adult suffrage for a period of five years. The Chief Minister is assisted by a Council of Ministers that he nominates, the size of which is restricted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Himanta Biswa Sarma</span> 15th and current Chief Minister Of Assam

Himanta Biswa Sarma is an Indian politician and lawyer serving as the 15th and current Chief Minister of Assam since 2021. A former member of the Indian National Congress, Sarma joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on 23 August 2015 and soon was made convenor of NEDA. He is a five time Member of the Assam Legislative Assembly from Jalukbari, having been elected since 2001.

Jalukbari Assembly constituency is one of the 126 assembly constituencies of Assam state assembly, in north-east India. It is a segment of Gauhati Lok Sabha constituency.

The North-East Democratic Alliance is a political coalition that was formed on May 24, 2016, by Bharatiya Janata Party. The motive of the new political front was to unite non-Congress parties in Northeast India. Himanta Biswa Sarma was appointed as the convenor of the front.

Jayanta Mallabaruah is an Indian politician from the state of Assam. He was a two term member of the Assam Legislative Assembly, from 2011 to 2016 and 2021 to present. He has been appointed Cabinet Minister in the Government of Assam headed by Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The 2021 Assam Legislative Assembly election was the 15th quinquennial legislative assembly election held in the Indian state of Assam from March 27 to April 6 in three phases, to elect 126 MLAs to the 15th Assam Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and the result declared on Sunday, 2 May. The term of the previous Fourteenth Legislative Assembly of Assam ended on 31 May 2021.

The Sarma ministry is the current council of ministers of the Government of Assam which has been in office since 10 May 2021. The ministry is headed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and consists of 16 cabinet ministers. The chief minister and 14 other ministers were sworn-in into office by Governor Jagdish Mukhi on 10 May 2021.

Ardhendu Kumar Dey was an Indian politician and Minister of Irrigation and Soil Conservation in the Government of Assam. He was elected to the Assam Legislative Assembly from Hojai constituency from 1991 till 2006 as a member of INC. He was re-elected as an MLA from Hojai from 2011 to 2016. In April 2021, he left the Indian National Congress.

The Third Tarun Gogoi ministry is the third consecutive council of ministers of the Government of Assam headed by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi between 2011 and 2016. The ministry was constituted on 30 May 2011 after Tarun Gogoi was sworn-in as the chief minister of the state for the third consecutive term after leading the Indian National Congress into victory in the assembly election. The ministry remained into force until 24 May 2016.

References

1 2 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.
↑ "Himanta Biswa Sarma Crowned 15th Chief Minister Of Assam". Pratidin Time. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
↑ Chief Ministers Archived 16 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine from the Assam Assembly website
↑ Chief Ministers Archived 16 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine from the Assam Assembly website
↑ Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005. Retrieved on 3 March 2013.

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[3] A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.

[5] 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.

[6] A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.

[8] 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.

[PR-10] 1 2 3 4 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.^[5]

[term1-1] 1 2 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.

[:0-4] Chief Ministers Archived 16 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine from the Assam Assembly website

[:02-7] Chief Ministers Archived 16 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine from the Assam Assembly website

[9] Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005. Retrieved on 3 March 2013.

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