List of female opposition leaders in India

Map representing the number of female leaders of the opposition in different states and union territories of India

The leader of the opposition is the politician who leads the official opposition in the State legislative assemblies of India and State legislative councils of India. Official Opposition ^[1] is a term used in legislative Assemblies to designate the political party which has secured the second largest number of seat assembly. In order to get formal recognition, the party must have at least 10% of the total membership of the Legislative Assembly. A single party has to meet the 10% seat criterion, not an alliance. Many of the Indian state legislatures also follow this 10% rule, while the rest of them prefer the single largest opposition party according to the rules of their respective houses.

As of 6 August 2025, 13 women have served as leaders of the opposition in 9 out of 28 state assemblies and 1 out of 3 Union Territory assemblies, while only two women have served in two of the seven legislative councils. The first female leader of the opposition was Arutla Kamala Devi of Andhra Pradesh when she became leader of the opposition in the legislative assembly in February 1964. C. Motamma is the first female leader of the opposition in the state legislative council. Jamuna Devi was the longest-serving leader of the opposition, followed by Rajinder Kaur Bhattal. Maharashtra and Punjab are the only two states that had three and two female leaders of the opposition, respectively. Rabri Devi is the only female leader who served as the leader of the opposition in both the legislative assembly and legislative council of her respective state Bihar. Jamuna Devi and Indira Hridayesh are the only two who died in the office.

Among these 14 women leaders of opposition in both houses, four also served as leader of the house (also Chief Minister) of their respective state. These were Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Rabri Devi, Vasundhra Raje and Atishi Marlena. While J. Jayalalithaa served as Chief Minister but not the leader of the house. Only Jayalalithaa, Rajinder Kaur and Jamuna Devi served two non-consecutive terms in state legislative assemblies, while Rabri Devi served three non-consecutive terms in the state legislative council.

Rabri Devi is the incumbent female leader of the opposition in Bihar Legislative Council. ^[2] Atishi Marlena is the incumbent leader of opposition in Delhi Legislative Assembly.

Lok Sabha

No.	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Tenure			Lok Sabha	Party.
1		Sonia Gandhi	Amethi	31 October 1999	6 February 2004	4 years, 98 days	13th	Indian National Congress
2		Sushma Swaraj	Vidisha	21 December 2009	19 May 2014	4 years, 149 days	15th	Bharatiya Janata Party

State legislature

State legislative councils

Map shows the number of the female leader of the opposition in Indian States legislative councils.

Key

*  Incumbent leader of the opposition † Died in office

INC (1)   RJD (1)
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			State	Political party		Chief Minister	Ref
			Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		C. Motamma (b. 1951)	1 September 2010	17 June 2012	1 year, 290 days	Karnataka	Indian National Congress		B. S. Yediyurappa & Sadananda Gowda	[3]
2		Rabri Devi* (b. 1959)	12 May 2018	23 June 2020	2 years, 162 days	Bihar	Rashtriya Janata Dal		Nitish Kumar	[4]
			11 April 2022	9 August 2022
			16 February 2024	Incumbent	1 year, 171 days

State legislative assemblies

Key

RES Resigned † Died in office *  Incumbent leader of the opposition

AAP (1)   AIADMK (1)   BJP (1)   CPI (1)    INC (7)   JP (1)    RJD (1)
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			State/Union territory	Political party		Government			Ref
			Assumed office	Left office	Time in office				Chief Minister	Party
1		Arutla Kamala Devi (1920-2001)	21 February 1964	1 March 1967	3 years, 8 days	Andhra Pradesh	Communist Party of India		Kasu Brahmananda Reddy	Indian National Congress		[5]
2		Prabha Rau (1935-2010)	? February 1979	13 July 1979	~5-6 months	Maharashtra	Indian National Congress		Sharad Pawar	Indian Congress (Socialist)		[6]
3		Pratibha Patil (b. 1934)	16 July 1979	17 February 1980	216 days							[7]
4		Gurbinder Kaur Brar (1922-2013)	29 September 1985	11 May 1987	1 year, 224 days	Punjab			Surjit Singh Barnala	Shiromani Akali Dal		[8]
5		K. S. Nagarathnamma (1923-1993)	29 January 1987	21 April 1989	2 years, 85 days	Karnataka			Ramakrishna Hegde & S. R. Bommai	Janata Party		[9]
6		Mrinal Gore (1928-2012)	23 December 1988	19 October 1989	300 days	Maharashtra	Janata Party		Sharad Pawar	Indian National Congress		[10]
7		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)	9 February 1989	1 December 1989 [RES]	5 years, 280 days	Tamil Nadu	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		M. Karunanidhi	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		[11]
			29 May 2006	14 May 2011
8		Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (b. 1945)	12 February 1997	10 October 1998 [RES]	6 years, 253 days	Punjab	Indian National Congress		Prakash Singh Badal	Shiromani Akali Dal		[12]
			1 March 2007	14 March 2012								[13]
9		Jamuna Devi (1929-2010)	16 December 2003	11 December 2008	6 years, 259 days	Madhya Pradesh			Uma Bharti, Babulal Gaur & Shivraj Singh Chauhan	Bharatiya Janata Party		[14]
			7 January 2009	24 September 2010 [†]					Shivraj Singh Chauhan
10		Rabri Devi (b. 1959)	30 November 2005	24 November 2010	4 years, 359 days	Bihar	Rashtriya Janata Dal		Nitish Kumar	Janata Dal (United)		[15]
11		Vasundhara Raje (b. 1953)	2 January 2009	20 February 2013	4 years, 49 days	Rajasthan	Bhartiya Janata Party		Ashok Gehlot	Indian National Congress		[16]
12		Indira Hridayesh (1941-2021)	27 March 2017	13 June 2021 [†]	4 years, 78 days	Uttarakhand	Indian National Congress		Trivendra Singh Rawat & Tirath Singh Rawat	Bhartiya Janata Party		[17]
13		Atishi Marlena* (b. 1981)	23 February 2025	Incumbent	164 days	National Capital Territory of Delhi	Aam Aadmi Party		Rekha Gupta			[18]

See also

• List of female governors in India
• List of female lieutenant governors and administrators in India
• List of female chief ministers in India
• List of female deputy chief ministers in India
• List of female legislative speakers and chairpersons in India
• List of female chief justices in India
• List of current Indian opposition leaders

References

1. "Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977". Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Government of India. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
2. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/bihar-ex-cm-and-rjd-leader-rabri-devi-appointed-leader-of-opposition-in-state-legislative-council/articleshow/111883715.cms
3. "Motamma may step down as leader of opposition in Karnataka, SR Patil to take over | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 5 March 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
6. Lok Sabha Members – Prabha Rau Profile Archived 3 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Lok Sabha
7. Ritu Singh (2007). President Pratibha Patil: India's First Woman President. Rajpal & Sons. p. 52. ISBN   978-81-7028-705-6.
8. "Ex-CM Brar's wife dies at 85". The Tribune . Chandigarh. 7 September 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
9. "KS Nagarthnama the first woman speaker of Karnataka assembly".
10. "PM condoles Gore's death". The Business Standard. Press Trust of India. 17 July 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
11. "PURATCHI THALAIVI JAYALALITHAA". The Times of India. 6 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
12. "Bhattal questions her removal", The Indian Express , 28 November 1998, retrieved 11 July 2011
13. "Bhattal elected leader of CLP", The Hindu , 12 March 2007, retrieved 11 July 2011
14. MP Leader of Oppn Jamuna Devi dies at 80
16. "Profile on Rajasthan Assembly website". Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Secretariat, Jaipur (Rajasthan) India. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
17. "Indira Hridayesh will be Opposition leader in Uttarakhand Assembly". The Economic Times. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
18. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/delhi/atishi-chosen-as-leader-of-opposition-in-delhi-assembly/