List of chief ministers of Punjab (India)

For the Chief Ministers of Pakistani Punjab, see List of Chief Ministers of Punjab (Pakistan).

Chief Minister of Punjab
Emblem of Punjab
File:Bhagwant Mann Portrait.jpg Incumbent Bhagwant Mann since 16 March 2022 (2022-03-16)
Chief Minister's Office
Style	The Honourable (Formal) Mr. Chief Minister (Informal)
Status	Head of government
Abbreviation	CM
Member of	Cabinet Punjab Legislative Assembly
Reports to	Governor of Punjab
Seat	Punjab Civil Secretariat, Chandigarh
Appointer	Governor of Punjab
Term length	At the confidence of the assembly Chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.
Precursor	Prime Minister of Punjab Prime Minister of East Punjab Chief Minister of PEPSU
Inaugural holder	Gopi Chand Bhargava
Formation	5 April 1937 (1937-04-05)
Deputy	Deputy Chief Minister
Salary	₹230,000 (US$3,200)/monthly ₹2,760,000 (US$39,000)/annually

The chief minister of Punjab, an Indian state, is the head of the government of Punjab. As per the Constitution of India, the Governor of Punjab is the state's head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Punjab 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 that he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.

History

Punjab Province (1937-1947)

The province of Punjab was then headquartered in Lahore.Under the Government of India Act 1935, a bicameral legislature was set up with a legislative assembly and a legislative council with a government headed by the Prime Minister. The Unionist Party won the Punjab Provincial Assembly elections, 1937 and Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan became the Premier of Punjab and hold the position up to his death in 1942. Khan was succeeded by Sir Khizar Tiwana. In 1946 elections were held the Unionist Party stood fourth place but with the support of Indian National Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal formed the government under Sir Khizar Tiwana. Tiwana later resigned on 2 March 1947 against the decision of Partition of India.

Patiala and East Punjab States Union (1948-1956)

Patiala and East Punjab States Union or PEPSU was an Indian state formed by the union of the post-partition province of Punjab on the Indian side of the border with eight princely states, which were allowed to maintain their native monarchs. The state was inaugurated on 15 July 1948 and formally became a state in 1950. Among these princely states, six were salute states:- Patiala, Jind, Kapurthala, Nabha, Faridkot and Malerkotla. The other two states were Nalagarh and Kalsia. PEPSU was earlier headed by the Premier, from 1952 the Chief Minister become the head of the government. On 1 November 1956, PEPSU was merged mostly into East Punjab( Punjab from 1950) following the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.

East Punjab (1947-1966)

The state of East Punjab was formed in 1947 later it was renamed Punjab in 1950. It consisted of the parts of the Punjab Province of British India that went to India following the partition of India. Since 1947, Punjab has had fifteen chief ministers. The first was Gopi Chand Bhargava of the Indian National Congress party, who was sworn in on 15 August 1947, when India gained independence from the British. He was succeeded by fellow Congressman Bhim Sen Sachar, who was then subsequently replaced after 188 days by former Chief Minister Gopi Chand Bhargava. After a brief term, President Rajendra Prasad placed the Punjab Legislative Assembly under suspension for ninth months to help the state government gets its act together. In 1952, the first state elections took place for the Legislative Assembly. The results of the election saw the return of the Congress government with former Chief Minister Bhim Sen Sachar as its leader. After he resigned in 1956, Partap Singh Kairon became chief minister. Serving until 1964, Kairon remains one of Punjab's longest-serving chief ministers. He was followed by the returning Chief Minister Gopi Chand Bhargava, who briefly held office as acting chief minister for only 15 days. In July 1964, Ram Kishan assumed the office and served for two years. His tenure was followed by the President's rule which lasted for 119 days. On 1 November 1966, the state of Haryana was partitioned from Punjab and some other districts were given to the state of Himachal Pradesh.

Punjab (Since 1969)

The first chief minister of the newly re-configured state was Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir who led a Congress government from the Vidhan Parishad, one of only two to have done so. In the 1967 elections, he was voted out of power in favour of the Akali Das Sant Fateh Singh Group whose leader Gurnam Singh became the first non-Congress chief minister. Gurnam Singh's government was succeeded by three short-lived Akali Dal governments—Lachhman Singh Gill's government for less than a year and a little more than a year under the returning Gurnam Singh and Parkash Singh Badal. After 272 days under President's rule, the Congress party returned to power under the future President Zail Singh. In 1977, Parkash Singh Badal became the chief minister for the second time. Darbara Singh became chief minister in 1980 and remained in office for three years before a long period under President's rule. A brief interlude under Surjit Singh Barnala followed, after which three Congress-led governments took office—led by Beant Singh from 1992 to 1995, Harcharan Singh Brar from 1995 to 1996 and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal from 1996 to 1997. Upon taking office, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal became the first female chief minister of Punjab and overall the 8th female chief minister in India.

Parkash Singh Badal assumed office for the third time in 1997 and became the first chief minister, since Kairon's resignation in 1964, to serve a full term. Badal was succeeded by Congressman Amarinder Singh, who also successfully served a full term. In 2017 he became CM for the second time but failed to complete his tenure due to internal political factionalism and Charanjit Singh Channi became the first Dalit chief minister of Punjab just 6 months before the expiry of the 15th assembly.

Office

The office of the chief minister of Punjab is located at Punjab Civil Secretariat, Sector – 1, Chandigarh.

Key

Colour key for party of the chief minister

•   Aam Aadmi Party
•   Indian National Congress
•   Shiromani Akali Dal
•   Akali Dal Sant
•   Punjab Janta Party
•   Unionist Party
•   Independent

Other key

• No.: Incumbent number
• ^† Assassinated
• ^d Died in Office
• ^pd Position Dissolved

•   Acting Chief Minister

Precursors

Punjab Province (1937-1947)

No		Portrait	Name (Birth–Death) (Constituency)	Party (Alliance/ Partner)	Term of office		Time in office	Assembly (Election)	Appointed by
					Took office	Left office
1			Sikandar Hayat Khan (1882-1942) (West-Punjab Landlord)	Unionist Party	5 April 1937	26 December 1942	5 years, 265 days	1st (1937)	Herbert William Emerson
2			Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana (1900-1975) (Khushab)		30 December 1942	19 March 1945	2 years, 79 days		Bertrand Glancy
(i)		Governor Rule		-	19 March 1945	21 March 1946	1 year, 2 days	-	Viscount Wavell
(2)			Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana (1900-1975) (Khushab)	Unionist Party (INC-SAD)	21 March 1946	2 March 1947	346 days	2nd (1946)	Bertrand Glancy
(ii)		Governor Rule		-	2 March 1947	15 August 1947	166 days	-	Earl Mountbatten

Patiala and East Punjab States Union (1948-1956)

No.	Portrait	Name	Tenure			Assembly (election)	Appointed by	Party
Premier of PEPSU (1948-52)
1		Gian Singh Rarewala	15 July 1948	13 January 1949	2 years, 312 days	Caretaker Government	Yadavindra Singh	Independent (Shiromani Akali Dal)
			13 January 1949	23 May 1951		Not yet created
2		Raghbir Singh	23 May 1951	21 April 1952	334 days			Indian National Congress
Chief Minister of PEPSU (1952-56)
1		Gian Singh Rarewala	22 April 1952	5 March 1953	317 days	1st Assembly (1952 election)	Yadavindra Singh	Independent
—		Vacant (President's rule)	5 March 1953	8 March 1954	1 year, 3 days	—	—	N/A
2		Raghbir Singh	8 March 1954	12 January 1955	310 days	2nd Assembly (1954 election)	Yadavindra Singh	Indian National Congress
3		Brish Bhan	12 January 1955	1 November 1956	1 year, 294 days

Chief Minister of Punjab

No.	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Tenure			Assembly (election)	Party
1		Gopi Chand Bhargava	University	15 August 1947	13 April 1949	1 year, 241 days	Interim Assembly	Indian National Congress
2		Bhim Sen Sachar	Lahore City	13 April 1949	18 October 1949	188 days
(1)		Gopi Chand Bhargava	University	18 October 1949	20 June 1951	1 year, 245 days
—		Vacant (President's rule)	—	20 June 1951	17 April 1952	302 days	—	N/A
(2)		Bhim Sen Sachar	Ludhiana City South	17 April 1952	22 July 1953	3 years, 281 days	1st Assembly (1952 election)	Indian National Congress
				22 July 1953	23 January 1956
3		Partap Singh Kairon	Sujanpur	23 January 1956	9 April 1957	8 years, 150 days
				9 April 1957	11 March 1962		2nd Assembly (1957 election)
				11 March 1962	21 June 1964		3rd Assembly (1962 election)
—		Gopi Chand Bhargava	MLC	21 June 1964	6 July 1964	15 days
4		Ram Kishan	Jalandhar North East	7 July 1964	5 July 1966	1 year, 363 days
—		Vacant (President's rule)	—	5 July 1966	1 November 1966	119 days		N/A
5		Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir	MLC	1 November 1966	8 March 1967	127 days	3rd Assembly (1962 election)	Indian National Congress
6		Gurnam Singh	Qila Raipur	8 March 1967	25 November 1967	262 days	4th Assembly (1967 election)	Akali Dal - Sant Fateh Singh (BJS-CPI)
7		Lachhman Singh Gill	Dharamkot	25 November 1967	23 August 1968	272 days		Punjab Janta Party (INC)
—		—	Vacant (President's rule)	23 August 1968	17 February 1969	178 days	—	N/A
(6)		Gurnam Singh	Qila Raipur	17 February 1969	27 March 1970	1 year, 38 days	5th Assembly (1969 election)	Shiromani Akali Dal (BJS)
8		Parkash Singh Badal	Gidderbaha	27 March 1970	14 June 1971	1 year, 79 days
—		Vacant (President's rule)	—	14 June 1971	17 March 1972	277 days	—	N/A
9		Zail Singh	Anandpur Sahib	17 March 1972	30 April 1977	5 years, 44 days	6th Assembly (1972 election)	Indian National Congress
—		Vacant (President's rule)	—	30 April 1977	20 June 1977	51 days	—	N/A
(8)		Parkash Singh Badal	Gidderbaha	20 June 1977	17 February 1980	2 years, 242 days	7th Assembly (1977 election)	Shiromani Akali Dal (JP-CPI)
—		Vacant (President's rule)	—	17 February 1980	6 June 1980	110 days	—	N/A
10		Darbara Singh	Nakodar	6 June 1980	6 October 1983	3 years, 122 days	8th Assembly (1980 election)	Indian National Congress
—		Vacant (President's rule)	—	6 October 1983	29 September 1985	1 year, 358 days	—	N/A
11		Surjit Singh Barnala	Barnala	29 September 1985	11 June 1987	1 year, 255 days	9th Assembly (1985 election)	Shiromani Akali Dal
—		Vacant (President's rule)	—	11 June 1987	25 February 1992	4 years, 259 days	—	N/A
12		Beant Singh	Jalandhar Cantonment	25 February 1992	31 August 1995	3 years, 187 days	10th Assembly (1992 election)	Indian National Congress
13		Harcharan Singh Brar	Muktsar	31 August 1995	21 November 1996	1 year, 82 days
14		Rajinder Kaur Bhattal	Lehra	21 November 1996	11 February 1997	82 days
(8)		Parkash Singh Badal	Lambi	12 February 1997	26 February 2002	5 years, 14 days	11th Assembly (1997 election)	Shiromani Akali Dal (BJP)
15		Amarinder Singh	Patiala Urban	26 February 2002	1 March 2007	5 years, 3 days	12th Assembly (2002 election)	Indian National Congress
(8)		Parkash Singh Badal	Lambi	1 March 2007	14 March 2012	10 years, 15 days	13th Assembly (2007 election)	Shiromani Akali Dal (BJP)
				14 March 2012	16 March 2017		14th Assembly (2012 election)
(15)		Amarinder Singh	Patiala Urban	16 March 2017	20 September 2021	4 years, 188 days	15th Assembly (2017 election)	Indian National Congress
16		Charanjit Singh Channi	Chamkaur Sahib	20 September 2021	16 March 2022	2 years, 219 days
17		Bhagwant Mann	Dhuri	16 March 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 41 days	16th Assembly (2022 election)	Aam Aadmi Party

List of Chief Ministers of Punjab by Party

Following is the summary of the hold of the Chief Minister's office by members of Indian political parties.

S. No.	Party		Number of Chief Ministers	Total days of holding CM Office
1		Indian National Congress	12	15278 days
2		Shiromani Akali Dal	3	7977 days
3		Punjab Janta Party	1	272 days
4		Akali Dal Sant	1	262 days
5		Aam Aadmi Party	1	2 years, 41 days

Parties by number of their members served as Punjab Chief Ministers

2.5

5

7.5

10

12.5

15

INC

SAD

ADSF

PJP

AAP

•   INC
•   SAD
•   ADSF
•   PJP
•   AAP

Living former Chief Ministers of Punjab

As of 26 April 2024, there are four Living former chief ministers of Punjab:

• Living former Chief ministers
• Parkash Singh Badal Official portrait 2017.png

  Parkash Singh Badal
  (1970–1971, 1977–1980, 1997–2002, 2007–2017)
  (1927-12-08) 8 December 1927

• 

  Rajinder Kaur Bhattal
  (1996–1997)
  (1945-09-03) 3 September 1945

• 

  Amarinder Singh
  (2002–2007, 2017–2021)
  (1942-03-11) 11 March 1942

• 

  Charanjit Singh Channi
  (2021–2022)
  (1963-03-01) 1 March 1963

The most recent death of a former chief minister was that of Surjit Singh Barnala on 14 January 2017.

See also

• List of governors of Punjab (India)
• List of Deputy Chief Ministers of Punjab (India)

External links

• assembly info