List of chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh

Last updated
Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh
HPGovt.png
Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.jpg
Incumbent
Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu
since 11 December 2022
Government of Himachal Pradesh
Style The Honourable (Formal)
Mr. Chief Minister (Informal)
Type Head of Government
StatusLeader of the Executive
AbbreviationCM
Member of
Reports to
Residence Oakover, Shimla
Seat Himachal Pradesh Secretariat, Shimla
Appointer Governor of Himachal Pradesh by convention based on appointees ability to command confidence in the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly
Term length At the confidence of the assembly Chief minister's term is for five years
and is subject to no term limits. [1]
Inaugural holder Yashwant Singh Parmar
Deputy Deputy Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh
Salary
  • 310,000 (US$3,900)/monthly
  • 3,720,000 (US$47,000)/annually
Website Official website

The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh is the chief executive of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, the state's 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]

Contents

Since 1952, seven people have been Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. Four of these belonged to the Indian National Congress party, including inaugural office-holder Yashwant Singh Parmar. After his first term ended in 1956, Himachal Pradesh was made a union territory, and the office of Chief Minister ceased to exist. In 1963, Parmar once again became Chief Minister, and during his reign, in 1971, Himachal regained full statehood. Until March 2015, when he was surpassed by Virbhadra Singh, Parmar was the state's longest-serving chief minister. Between 1993 and 2017, the chief ministership has changed hands every five years between Virbhadra Singh of the Congress and Prem Kumar Dhumal of the Bharatiya Janata Party. All chief ministers except Shanta Kumar, belongs to the Rajput caste. [2]

Chief Ministers of Himachal Pradesh (1952–56) and (1963–present)

Representation of chief ministers by party

  Office abolished/President's Rule (12.73%)
  Indian National Congress (61.66%)
  Janata Party (5.74%)
  Bharatiya Janata Party (19.88%)

The Chief Commissioner's Province of Himachal Pradesh was formed on 15 April 1948 through integration of 30 erstwhile princely-states. In 1951, Himachal Pradejsh become a Part C state, under the Government of Part C State, 1951 and was brought under a Lt. Governor with 36-member Legislative Assembly. First elections to the Assembly were held in 1952. [3] The Indian National Congress won 24 seats to form a government under Yashwant Singh Parmar.

In 1954, Bilaspur, another part-C State, was merged with Himachal Pradesh. In 1956 it was made a Union Territory and was placed under a Lt. Governor with a Territorial Council with limited powers. [4]

List of chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh (1951–56)

(Part 'C' State)

No [lower-alpha 1] PortraitNameConstituencyTerm of officeAssembly

(election)

Party [lower-alpha 2]
FromToDays in office
1 Yashwant Singh Parmar 1988 stamp of India.jpg Yashwant Singh Parmar Pachhad 8 March 1952 31 October 19564 years, 237 daysLegislative

Assembly

(1952 election)

Indian

National Congress

Office abolished, 1956–63

(Himachal Pradesh became a Union Territory)

In 1963, Himachal Pradesh though being a Union Territory was provided with a Legislative Assembly. The Territorial Council was converted into the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory. The assembly has its first sitting on 1 October 1971. [3] On 18 December 1970, the State of Himachal Pradesh Act was passed by Parliament and the new state came into being on 25 January 1971. Thus Himachal Pradesh emerged as the 18th state of Indian Union. [5]

List of chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh (1963–71)

(Union Territory with Legislature)

No [lower-alpha 1] PortraitNameConstituencyTerm of officeAssembly

(election)

Party [lower-alpha 3]
FromToDays in office
(1) Yashwant Singh Parmar 1988 stamp of India.jpg Yashwant Singh Parmar Shri Renukaji 1 July 19634 March 19677 years, 208 days1st

(Territorial Council)

Indian National Congress
4 March 196725 January 19712nd

(1967 elections)

List of chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh (1971–present)

(State)

(1) Yashwant Singh Parmar 1988 stamp of India.jpg Yashwant Singh Parmar Shri Renukaji 25 January 1971 10 March 1972 6 years, 3 days2nd

(1967 election)

Indian National Congress
10 March 197228 January 19773rd

(1972 election)

2 Thakur Ram Lal.jpg Thakur Ram Lal Jubbal-Kotkhai 28 January 1977 30 April 197792 days
Emblem of India.svg
Vacant [lower-alpha 4]
(President's rule)
N/A 30 April 1977 22 June 197753 daysDissolvedN/A
3 Shanta Kumar.jpg Shanta Kumar Sullah 22 June 1977 14 February 19802 years, 237 days4th

(1977 election)

Janata Party
(2) Thakur Ram Lal.jpg Thakur Ram Lal Jubbal-Kotkhai 14 February 1980 15 June 1982 3 years, 53 days Indian National Congress
15 June 19828 April 19835th

(1982 election)

4 Virbhadra Singh HP.jpg Virbhadra Singh Jubbal-Kotkhai 8 April 1983 8 March 1985 6 years, 331 days
8 March 1985 5 March 19906th

(1985 elections)

(3) Shanta Kumar.jpg Shanta Kumar Palampur 5 March 1990 15 December 19922 years, 285 days7th

(1990 elections)

Bharatiya Janata Party
Emblem of India.svg
Vacant [lower-alpha 4]
(President's rule)
N/A 15 December 1992 3 December 1993 353 daysDissolvedN/A
(4) Virbhadra Singh HP.jpg Virbhadra Singh Rohru 3 December 1993 24 March 19984 years, 111 days8th

(1993 elections)

Indian National Congress
5 Prem Kumar Dhumal.jpg Prem Kumar Dhumal Bamsan 24 March 1998 6 March 20034 years, 347 days9th

(1998 elections)

Bharatiya Janata Party
(4) Virbhadra Singh HP.jpg Virbhadra Singh Rohru 6 March 2003 30 December 20074 years, 299 days10th

(2003 elections)

Indian National Congress
(5) Prem Kumar Dhumal.jpg Prem Kumar Dhumal Bamsan 30 December 2007 25 December 20124 years, 361 days11th

(2007 elections)

Bharatiya Janata Party
(4) Virbhadra Singh HP.jpg Virbhadra Singh Shimla Rural 25 December 2012 27 December 2017 5 years, 2 days12th

(2012 elections)

Indian National Congress
6 JRThakur.jpg Jai Ram Thakur Seraj 27 December 2017 11 December 20224 years, 349 days 13th

(2017 elections)

Bharatiya Janata Party
7

Sukhvinder Singh CM.jpg

Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu Nadaun 11 December 2022 incumbent1 year, 121 days 14th

(2022 elections)

Indian National Congress

Timeline

Sukhvinder Singh SukhuJai Ram ThakurPrem Kumar DhumalVirbhadra SinghShanta KumarThakur Ram LalYashwant Singh ParmarList of chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh

Notes

Footnotes
  1. 1 2 A number inside brackets indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
  2. This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he headed may have been a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
  3. This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he headed may have been a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
  4. 1 2 President's rule may be imposed when the "government in a state is not able to function as per the Constitution", which often happens because no party or coalition has a majority in the assembly. When President's rule is in force in a state, its council of ministers stands dissolved. The office of chief minister thus lies vacant, and the administration is taken over by the governor, who functions on behalf of the central government. At times, the legislative assembly also stands dissolved. [6]

Related Research Articles

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Virbhadra Singh was an Indian politician who served 6 terms and 21 years as the 4th Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. A leader of the Indian National Congress party, he was elected 9 times as a Member of Legislative Assembly to the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha and 5 times as Member of Parliament to the Lok Sabha. Virbhadra Singh was popularly known by the honorific Raja Sahib. Singh holds the distinction of being the longest serving Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, holding the office from 1983 to 1990, from 1993 to 1998, from 2003 to 2007 and finally from 2012 to 2017, when he was succeeded by the BJP's Jai Ram Thakur. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1962, 1967, 1971, 1980 and 2009. Singh served as a Union Minister in the governments of Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. At the time of his demise, he was serving as an MLA from Arki constituency.

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State governments in India are the governments ruling over 28 states and 8 union territories of India and the head of the Council of Ministers in a state is the Chief Minister. Power is divided between the Union government and state governments. While the Union government handles defence, external affairs etc., the state government deals with internal security and other state issues. Income for the Union government is from customs duty, excise tax, income tax etc., while state government income comes from sales tax (VAT), stamp duty etc.; now these have been subsumed under the various components of the Goods and Services Tax

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Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) is the state unit of the Indian National Congress, working in the state of Himachal Pradesh. It is responsible for organizing and coordinating the party's activities and campaigns within the state, as well as selecting candidates for local, state, and national elections. The current president of the HPCC is Pratibha Singh. Y. S. Parmar, Ram Lal Thakur and Virbhadra Singh from Congress represented the state since 1951. Its head office is situated at Rajiv Bhawan in Shimla. Pratibha Singh is the current president.

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The Rajputs in Himachal Pradesh are members of the Rajput community living in the North Indian Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh. They ruled a majority of kingdoms of the region and even dominate in Himachal Pradesh politics. The kingdoms of the Hill States of India were mostly in the present day state of Himachal Pradesh, and mostly had Rajput rulers. All of the Chief Ministers who served Himachal Pradesh except for Shanta Kumar belong to the Rajput caste. The Rajputs of Himachal Pradesh fought battles with Tughlaq, Mughal, and Sikh forces, most notable being the Battle of Bhangani, when the Hill States made an alliance against the Sikhs. While some Rajput kingdoms and clans have a long history in Himachal Pradesh, others were established due to the Rajput migrations to the hill regions mostly due to the Islamic invasions.

References

  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 Himachal Pradesh as well.
  2. "Jai Ram Thakur's Himachal cabinet has a distinctly Rajput flavour". 27 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 "HP Vidhan Sabha".
  4. "Himachal Legislative Assembly". legislativebodiesinindia.nic.in. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  5. "Himachal Pradesh NIC".
  6. Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005. Retrieved on 3 March 2013.