Since 1963, Puducherry has had 10 chief ministers. The longest-serving and current chief minister, N. Rangasamy from All India N.R. Congress, held the office for over fifteen years in multiple tenures. The former governor of KeralaM. O. H. Farook has the second-longest tenure and V. Vaithilingam from the Indian National Congress has the third-longest tenure. The inaugural holder Edouard Goubert from the Indian National Congress has the shortest tenure (only 1 year, 71 days). There have been seven instances of president's rule in Puducherry, most recently in 2021.
The French settlements in India were in a transition period between the de facto transfer day (i.e., 1 November 1954) and the de jure transfer day (i.e., 16 August 1962).[2] In January 1955, the government of India, by an order, renamed these four French settlements in India as the State of Pondicherry.[3] Both these transfer days are official holidays within the union territory of Puducherry.[4][5]
On 10 May 1963, the government of India enacted the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, which came into force on 1 July 1963. This introduced the same pattern of government that prevailed in the rest of the country, but subject to certain limitations.[6] Under Article 239 of the Indian Constitution, the president of India appoints the lieutenant governor of Puducherry with such designation as he may specify to head the administration of the territory. The lieutenant governor appoints the chief minister. The lieutenant governor, on the advice of the chief minister, appoints the council of ministers.
Also, the representative assembly was converted into the legislative assembly of Pondicherry on 1 July 1963 as per Section 54(3) of The Union Territories Act, 1963 and its members were deemed to have been elected to the assembly.[7] Thus, the first legislative assembly was formed without an election. Elections for the assembly have been held since 1964.
↑ This column only names the chief minister's party. The union territory government he heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
References
↑ Durga Das Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India. 1960. 20th Edition, 2011 Reprint. pp. 241, 245. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. ISBN978-81-8038-559-9. Note: although the text talks about Indian union territory governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Puducherry as well.
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