The Indian Constitution, through Article 164, outlines the process of appointing Chief Ministers for states and Union Territories (UTs). The Governor, serving as the appointing authority, is entrusted with the responsibility of selecting the Chief Minister. Additionally, Article 167 defines the Chief Minister’s pivotal role as a bridge between the Governor and the state council of ministers.
Current Chief Ministers of India, each state and union territory has a chief minister, who serves as the head of government. Though appointed by the governor, the chief minister must maintain the confidence of the majority in the state legislative assembly. The governor, appointed by the President of India, acts as the constitutional head of the state/territory and wields powers like dissolving the legislative assembly and appointing the chief minister. Here’s a concise list of India’s current state/territory heads in 2023: Chief Minister and Governor.
| States | Chief Minister | Governor |
| Andhra Pradesh | Chandrababu Naidu | S. Abdul Nazeer |
| Arunachal Pradesh | Pema Khandu | Lt. General Kaiwalya Trivikram Parnaik |
| Assam | Himanta Biswa Sarma | Lakshman Prasad Acharya |
| Bihar | Nitish Kumar | Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar |
| Chhattisgarh | Vishnu Deo Sai | Ramen Deka |
| Goa | Pramod Sawant | P.S. Sgreedharan |
| Gujarat | Bhupendra Patel | Acharaya Devvrat |
| Haryana | Nayab Singh Saini | Bandaru Dattatraya |
| Himachal Pradesh | Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu | Shiv Pratap Shukla |
| Jharkhand | Champai Soren | Santosh Kumar Gangwar |
| Karnataka | Siddaramaiah | Thawar Chand Gehlot |
| Kerala | Pinarayi Vijayan | Arif Mohammed Khan |
| Madhya Pradesh | Mohan Yadav | Mangubhai Chaganbhai Patel |
| Maharashtra | Eknath Shinde | C P Radhakrishnan |
| Manipur | N. Biren Singh | Lakshman Prasad Acharya |
| Meghalaya | Conrad Kongkal Sangma | C H Vijayashankar |
| Mizoram | PU Lalduhoma | Dr. Kambhampati Haribabu |
| Nagaland | Neiphiu Rio | Shri La. Ganesan |
| Odisha | Mohan Charan Majhi | Raghubar Das |
| Punjab | Bhagwant Singh Mann | Gulab Chand Kataria |
| Rajasthan | Bhajan Lal Sharma | Haribhau Kisanrao Bagde |
| Sikkim | PS Golay | Om Prakash Mathur |
| Tamil Nadu | M.K Stalin | R.N. Ravi |
| Telangana | Anumula Revanth Reddy | Jishnu Dev Varma |
| Tripura | Dr. Manik Saha | Indra Sena Reddy Nallu |
| Uttar Pradesh | Yogi Adityanath | Anandiben Patel |
| Uttarakhand | Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami | Gurmit Singh |
| West Bengal | Mamata Banerjee | Dr CV Ananda Bose |
| Union Territory | Governor | Capital |
| Andaman & Nicobar | Shri. Devendra Kumar Joshi (Lieutenant Governor) | Port Blair |
| Chandigarh | Shri Banwarilal Purohit (Administrator) | Chandigarh |
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu | Shri Praful Patel (Administrator) | Daman |
| Delhi | Vinal Kumar Saxena (Lieutenant Governor) | New Delhi |
| Jammu and Kashmir | Shri Manoj Sinha (Lieutenant Governor) | Srinagar |
| Lakshadweep | Shri Praful Patel (Administrator) | Kavaratti |
| Puducherry | K Kailashnathan | Puducherry |
| Ladakh | Brig (Dr) B D Mishra (Retd) | Leh |
Governor of India Selection and Powers
The governor in India is appointed by the president. The central government is responsible for the nomination of the government for each state. There is no indirect or direct election for the appointment of governor unlike the elections for president. The office of a governor is an independent constitutional office the governor doesn’t serve the union government.
The governor only needs to meet two qualifications one he should be an Indian citizen and the other he should be 35 years old or more. There are two conventions that the government follows to nominate a governor that is the person who is going to be appointed as the governor must not belong to the state, he shall be an outsider with having no relations with the state.
The other one is the consultation of the chief minister is taken before the appointment of a governor by the president. He is the executive head of the state he is appointed to. All the executive actions that are performed in the state are in the name of the governor.
There is no specific procedure for the selection and appointment of the chief minister of a state as per the constitution of India. According to article 164, the Government of a state appoints the chief minister. There are a few qualifications that a person needs to become a chief minister of India. The person must be a citizen of India, he must have completed 25 years of age, and must be a member of any house either the legislative assembly or the legislative council.
A citizen of India who is not a member of the legislative assembly or legislative council has to get himself elected within 6 months from the date of their appointment, if the person fails the procedure, he would not be considered the chief minister.
The powers given to the chief minister are that he can allocate and reshuffle the portfolios among ministers, if the chief minister resigns the full cabinet has to resign with him, guides controls and direct activities of all the ministers, if there is any difference of opinion, he can ask the minister to resign, he advises the government to appoint any person as a minister.
Every executive action that is taken by the state government is under the name of the governor. The governor appoints the advocate general of the state and their remuneration. He also appoints the state election commissioner, vice-chancellors of the universities in the state, chairman, and members of the state public service commission.
In India, the governor of a state is appointed by the president of India for a term of 5 years. The governor is the head of all the state governments and all the executive actions are taken in the name of the governor.
Only two union territories that are Delhi and Puducherry have chief ministers. The chief minister of Delhi is Arvind Kejriwal and the chief minister of Puducherry is N. Rangaswamy.
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