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 May 01, 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]

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.

#	Chief Minister (Lifespan) Constituency	Term of office			Election (Term)	Party	Appointed by (Governor)
1	Sir Syed Muhammed Saadulah (1885–1955) MLA for Kamrup (South)	1 April 1937	19 September 1938	1 year, 171 days	1937 (1st Provincial)	Assam Valley Party	Sir Robert Reid
2	Gopinath Bordoloi (1890–1950) MLA for Kamrup Sadar (South)	19 September 1938	17 November 1939	1 year, 59 days		Indian National Congress	Sir Henry Joseph Twynam (Acting)
(1)	Sir Syed Muhammed Saadulah (1885–1955) MLA for Kamrup (South)	17 November 1939	24 December 1941	2 years, 37 days		Assam Valley Party	Sir Robert Reid
Governor's rule was imposed during this period (25 December 1941 – 24 August 1942)
(1)	Sir Syed Muhammed Saadulah (1885–1955) MLA for Kamrup (South)	25 August 1942	11 February 1946	3 years, 170 days	– (1st Provincial)	Assam Valley Party	Sir Andrew Clow
(2)	Gopinath Bordoloi (1890–1950) MLA for Kamrup Sadar (South)	11 February 1946	26 January 1950	3 years, 349 days	1946 (2nd Provincial)	Indian National Congress	Sir Andrew Clow

Chief Ministers

Note: ^† Died in office

#	Chief Minister (Lifespan) Constituency	Term of office			Election (Term)	Party	Government	Appointed by (Governor)
1	Gopinath Bordoloi (1890–1950) MLA for Kamrup Sadar (South)	26 January 1950	6 August 1950^[†]	192 days	1946 (Provincial)	Indian National Congress	Bordoloi	Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari
2	Bishnuram Medhi (1888–1981) MLA for Hajo	9 August 1950	27 December 1957	7 years, 140 days	1946 (Provincial)		Medhi I	Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari
2	Bishnuram Medhi (1888–1981) MLA for Hajo	9 August 1950	27 December 1957	7 years, 140 days	1952 (1st)		Medhi II	Jairamdas Daulatram
3	Bimala Prasad Chaliha (1912–1971) MLA for Badarpur, until 1962 MLA for Sonari, from 1962	27 December 1957	6 November 1970	12 years, 314 days	1957 (2nd)		Chaliha I	Saiyid Fazal Ali
					1962 (3rd)		Chaliha II	General (Retd.) S. M. Shrinagesh
					1967 (4th)		Chaliha III	Vishnu Sahay
4	Mahendra Mohan Choudhry (1908–1982) MLA for Gauhati East	6 November 1970	30 January 1972	1 year, 85 days	1967 (4th)		Choudhry	Braj Kumar Nehru
5	Sarat Chandra Sinha (1914–2005) MLA for Bilasipara East	31 January 1972	12 March 1978	6 years, 40 days	1972 (5th)		Sinha	Braj Kumar Nehru
6	Golap Borbora (1926–2006) MLA for Tinsukia	12 March 1978	4 September 1979	1 year, 176 days	1978 (6th)	Janata Party	Borbora	Lallan Prasad Singh
7	Jogendra Nath Hazarika (1924–1998) MLA for Duliajan	9 September 1979	11 December 1979	93 days	1978 (6th)	Janata Party	Hazarika	Lallan Prasad Singh
President's rule was imposed during this period (12 December 1979 – 5 December 1980)
8	Anwara Taimur (1936–2020) MLA for Dalgaon	6 December 1980	30 June 1981	206 days	– (6th)	Indian National Congress	Taimur	Lallan Prasad Singh
President's rule was imposed during this period (30 June 1981 – 13 January 1982)
9	Kesab Chandra Gogoi (1925–1998) MLA for Dibrugarh	13 January 1982	19 March 1982	65 days	– (6th)	Indian National Congress	Kesab	Prakash Mehrotra
President's rule was imposed during this period (19 March 1982 – 27 February 1983)
10	Hiteswar Saikia (1934–1996) MLA for Nazira	27 February 1983	23 December 1985	2 years, 299 days	1983 (7th)	Indian National Congress	Saikia I	Prakash Mehrotra
11	Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (born 1952) MLA for Nowgong	24 December 1985	28 November 1990	4 years, 339 days	1985 (8th)	Asom Gana Parishad	Mahanta I	Bhishma Narain Singh
President's rule was imposed during this period (28 November 1990 – 30 June 1991)
(10)	Hiteswar Saikia (1934–1996) MLA for Nazira	30 June 1991	22 April 1996^[†]	4 years, 297 days	1991 (9th)	Indian National Congress	Saikia II	Lokanath Misra
12	Bhumidhar Barman (1931–2021) MLA for Barkhetry	22 April 1996	14 May 1996	22 days	1991 (9th)	Indian National Congress	Barman
(11)	Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (born 1952) MLA for Barhampur	15 May 1996	17 May 2001	5 years, 2 days	1996 (10th)	Asom Gana Parishad	Mahanta II
13	Tarun Gogoi (1936–2020) MLA for Titabar	18 May 2001	24 May 2016	15 years, 6 days	2001 (11th)	Indian National Congress	Tarun I	Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Srinivas Kumar Sinha
					2006 (12th)		Tarun II	Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Ajai Singh
					2011 (13th)		Tarun III	Janaki Ballabh Patnaik
14	Sarbananda Sonowal (born 1962) MLA for Majuli	24 May 2016	10 May 2021	4 years, 351 days	2016 (14th)	Bharatiya Janata Party	Sonowal	Padmanabha Acharya
15	Himanta Biswa Sarma (born 1969) MLA for Jalukbari	10 May 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 357 days	2021 (15th)	Bharatiya Janata Party	Sarma	Jagdish Mukhi

Timeline

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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.

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[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.

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