List of current Indian chief ministers
In the Republic of India, a chief minister is the head of government of each of twenty-nine states and two union territories(Delhi and Puducherry). According to the Constitution of India, at the state-level, the governor is de jure head, but de factoexecutive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the state 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 he has the assembly`s confidence, the chief minister`s term is usually for a maximum of five years; there are no limits to the number of terms he/she can serve.[1]
Since February 2014 respectively, the office of Chief Minister of Delhi has been vacant, as President`s rule is in force there. Of the 30 incumbents, 4 are women—Anandiben Patel in Gujarat, Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu, Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, and Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan. Serving since December 1994 (for 19 years, 236 days), Sikkim`s Pawan Kumar Chamling has the longest incumbency. Parkash Singh Badal (b. 1927) of Punjab is the oldest chief minister,[2] while Jharkhand`s Hemant Soren (b. 1975) is the youngest. Eleven incumbents belong to the Indian National Congress and five are from the Bharatiya Janata Party; no other party has more than one chief minister in office