List of chief ministers of Karnataka

What links here Related changes Page information Get shortened URL
Created by MN Shenoy
Last edited July 22, 2023


Chief Minister of Karnataka
Emblem of Karnataka
StatusHead of Government
AbbreviationCM
Member ofKarnataka Legislative Assembly
Reports toGovernor of Karnataka
ResidenceAnugraha, Kumarakrupa Road, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
AppointerGovernor of Karnataka
Term lengthAt the confidence of the assembly
Chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.[1]
Inaugural holderK. Chengalaraya Reddy
Formation25 October 1947 (78 years ago) (1947-10-25)
Websitehttps://karnataka.gov.in, https://cmkarnataka.gov.in

The Chief Minister of Karnataka is the chief executive of the Indian state of Karnataka. 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 Karnataka Legislative Assembly, the state's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government in the state. 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 1947, twenty-two people have been Chief Minister of Mysore (as the state was known before 1 November 1973) or Karnataka. A majority of them belonged to the Indian National Congress party, including inaugural office-holder K. Chengalaraya Reddy. The longest-served chief minister, D. Devaraj Urs, held the office for over seven years in the 1970s. While Congress's Veerendra Patil had the largest gap between two terms (over eighteen years). One chief minister, H. D. Deve Gowda, went on to become the eleventh Prime Minister of India, while another, B. D. Jatti, served as the country's fifth Vice President. B. S. Yediyurappa who was the first chief minister from BJP served as the Chief Minister of the state for four terms in 2007, 2008, 2018 and 2019, the only one to do so in the history of Karnataka. In total BSY ruled the state for 5 years, 75 days and went on to be the fourth-longest served CM after Devaraj Urs, S Nijalingappa and Ramakrishna Hegde. S. R. Bommai ruled the state from the Janata Parivar, whose son Basavaraj Bommai too became the Chief Minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party. There have been six instances of president's rule in Karnataka, most recently in 2007–08.

The incumbent chief minister is the Bharatiya Janata Party's Basavaraj Bommai sworn in on 28 July 2021 as the Chief Minister of the state.

Chief Ministers of Mysore

No.[lower-alpha 1] Portarit Name Constituency Term[2]
(tenure length) 		Assembly[3]
(election) 		Party[lower-alpha 2]
1 K. Chengalaraya Reddy Legislation not eatablished 25 October 1947
 30 March 1952 4 years, 157 days Not established yet Indian National Congress
2 Kengal Hanumanthaiah Ramanagara 30 March 1952
19 August 1956 4 years, 142 days 1st

(1952–1957)
(1951–52 election)
continued...

3 File:Kadidalmanjappa.webp Kadidal Manjappa Tirthahalli 19 August 1956
31 October 1956 73 days

Chief Ministers of Coorg State

No.[lower-alpha 3] Portarit Name Constituency Term[2]
(tenure length) 		Assembly
(election) 		Party[lower-alpha 4]
1 C. M. Poonacha Berriath Nad 27 March 1952 31 October 1956 4 years, 218 days 1st

(1952–57)

(1952)

Indian National Congress

Chief Ministers of Karnataka

No.[lower-alpha 5] Portarit Name Constituency /
Representation From 		Term[2]
(tenure length) 		Assembly[3]
(election) 		Party[lower-alpha 6]
Chief Minister of Mysore (following the state's reorganisation)[lower-alpha 7]
4
S. Nijalingappa Molakalmuru 1 November 1956
16 May 1958 1 year, 197 days ...continued
1st
(1951–52 election) 		Indian National Congress
2nd
(1957 election)
5 B. D. Jatti Jamkhandi 16 May 1958
9 March 1962 3 years, 297 days
6 S. R. Kanthi Hungud 14 March 1962
20 June 1962 98 days 3rd
(1962 election)
(4)
S. Nijalingappa Shiggaon 21 June 1962
 28 May 1968 5 years, 342 days
Bagalkot[5] 4th
(1967 election)
7 Veerendra Patil Chincholi 29 May 1968
18 March 1971 2 years, 293 days Indian National Congress (O)
–
Vacant[lower-alpha 8]
(President's rule) 		N/A 19 March 1971
20 March 1972 1 year, 1 day Dissolved N/A
Chief Minister of Karnataka[lower-alpha 9]
8
File:Devarajaurs 1 small.PNG
 D. Devaraj Urs Hunasuru 20 March 1972
31 December 1977 5 years, 286 days 5th
(1972 election) 		Indian National Congress
–
Vacant[lower-alpha 8]
(President's rule) 		N/A 31 December 1977
28 February 1978 59 days Dissolved N/A
(8)
File:Devarajaurs 1 small.PNG
 D. Devaraj Urs Hunasuru 28 February 1978
7 January 1980 1 year, 313 days 6th
(1978 election) 		Indian National Congress
9
File:Gundurayaru.webp
 R. Gundu Rao Somwarpet 12 January 1980
6 January 1983 2 years, 359 days
10 Ramakrishna Hegde Kanakpura 10 January 1983
29 December 1984[lower-alpha 10] 1 year, 354 days 7th
(1983 election) 		Janata Party
Basavanagudi 8 March 1985
13 February 1986[lower-alpha 11] 3 years, 155 days 8th
(1985 election)
16 February 1986
10 August 1988
11
S. R. Bommai Hubli Rural 13 August 1988
21 April 1989 281 days
–
Vacant[lower-alpha 8]
(President's rule) 		N/A 21 April 1989
30 November 1989 193 days Dissolved N/A
(7) Veerendra Patil Chincholi 30 November 1989
10 October 1990 314 days 9th
(1989 election) 		Indian National Congress
–
Vacant[lower-alpha 8]
(President's rule) 		N/A 10 October 1990
17 October 1990 7 days N/A
12 S. Bangarappa Soraba 17 October 1990
19 November 1992 2 years, 33 days Indian National Congress
13 M. Veerappa Moily Karkala 19 November 1992
11 December 1994 2 years, 22 days
14
H. D. Deve Gowda Ramanagara 11 December 1994
31 May 1996 1 year, 172 days 10th
(1994 election) 		Janata Dal
15
File:J H Patel became the chief minister of Karnataka when Devwgowda cut short his tenure to become the prime minister of India.jpg
 J. H. Patel Channagiri 31 May 1996
7 October 1999 3 years, 129 days
16 S. M. Krishna Maddur 11 October 1999 28 May 2004
 4 years, 230 days 11th
(1999 election) 		Indian National Congress
17
Dharam Singh Jevargi 28 May 2004
2 February 2006 1 year, 250 days 12th
(2004 election)
18
H. D. Kumaraswamy Ramanagara 3 February 2006
8 October 2007 1 year, 253 days Janata Dal (Secular)
–
Vacant[lower-alpha 8]
(President's rule) 		N/A 8 October 2007
12 November 2007 35 days N/A
19
B. S. Yediyurappa Shikaripura 12 November 2007
19 November 2007 7 days Bharatiya Janata Party
–
Vacant[lower-alpha 8]
(President's rule) 		N/A 20 November 2007
29 May 2008 191 days Dissolved N/A
(19)
B. S. Yediyurappa Shikaripura 30 May 2008
4 August 2011 3 years, 67 days 13th
(2008 election) 		Bharatiya Janata Party
20
D. V. Sadananda Gowda MLC 5 August 2011
12 July 2012 342 days
21
Jagadish Shettar Hubli-Dharwad-Central 12 July 2012 13 May 2013 305 days
22
Siddaramaiah Varuna 13 May 2013 17 May 2018 5 years, 4 days 14th
(2013 election) 		Indian National Congress
(19)
B. S. Yediyurappa Shikaripura 17 May 2018 23 May 2018 6 days 15th
(2018 election) 		Bharatiya Janata Party
(18)
H. D. Kumaraswamy Channapatna 23 May 2018
26 July 2019 1 year, 64 days

(Total 2 years, 317 days)

Janata Dal (Secular)
(19)
B. S. Yediyurappa Shikaripura 26 July 2019
27 July 2021
 2 years, 2 days

(Total 5 years, 82 days)

Bharatiya Janata Party
23 File:BasavarajBommai.jpg Basavaraj Bommai Shiggaon 28 July 2021 Incumbent 5 years, 13 days

Timeline

Basavaraj BommaiSiddaramaiahJagadish ShettarD. V. Sadananda GowdaB. S. YediyurappaH. D. KumaraswamyDharam SinghS. M. KrishnaJ. H. PatelH. D. Deve GowdaM. Veerappa MoilyS. BangarappaS. BommaiRamakrishna HegdeR. Gundu RaoDevaraj UrsVeerendra PatilS. R. KanthiB. D. JattiS. Nijalingappa

Living former chief ministers

As of 10 August 2026, there are Eight living former chief ministers of Karnataka:

The most recent death of a former chief minister was that of Dharam Singh on 27 July 2017, aged 80.[8]

See also

Notes

Map of south India, with the districts of modern-day Karnataka highlighted
The modern state of Karnataka (within the blue border), as Mysore State has been known as since 1 November 1973, is composed of the erstwhile princely states of Mysore and Coorg, and the Kannada-speaking districts of the erstwhile states of Bombay, Hyderabad and Madras.
Footnotes
  1. ↑ A parenthetical number 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. ↑ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ On 1 November 1956, via the States Reorganisation Act, Mysore State was significantly expanded along linguistic lines. The Kannada-speaking districts of Bombay, Hyderabad and Madras states, as well as the entirety of Coorg, were added to it.[4]
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 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#Karnataka
  9. ↑ On 1 November 1973, via the Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Act, Mysore State was renamed as Karnataka.[4] Thus, Devaraj Urs was Chief Minister of Mysore between 20 March 1972 and 31 October 1973, and Chief Minister of Karnataka after that.
  10. ↑ According to Frontline magazine, "Following the poor performance of the Janata Party in the 1984 [general] elections (it won only four out of the 28 seats), Hegde resigned on the grounds that his party had lost its popular mandate. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi allowed him to head a caretaker government. In the 1985 [assembly] elections the Janata Party came to power with a comfortable majority."[6]
  11. ↑ According to Frontline, Hegde resigned "in February 1986 when the Karnataka High Court censured his government for the way it handled arrack bottling contracts".[6] He withdrew his resignation after a couple of days, "following pressure from his party legislators".[7]
References
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 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 Karnataka as well.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chief Ministers of Karnataka since 1947. Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Archived on 6 December 2016.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Assemblies from 1952. Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Archived on 6 December 2016.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 M. S. Prabhakara. "New names for old". The Hindu. 24 July 2007.
  5. ↑ kla.kar.nic.in http://kla.kar.nic.in/assembly/member/3assemblymemberslist.htm. Retrieved 6 November 2021. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Parvathi Menon. "A politician with elan: Ramakrishna Hegde, 1926–2004". Frontline. Volume 21: Issue 03, 31 January – 13 February 2004.
  7. ↑ A. Jayaram. "Pillar of anti-Congress movement". The Hindu. 13 January 2004.
  8. ↑ "Dharam Singh cremated with full state honours at his birthplace". Deccan Herald. 29 July 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2021.

Retrieved from "https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_chief_ministers_of_Karnataka&oldid=298474"
Discover more