Global InformationList of chief ministers from the Bharatiya Janata Party information
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one of the two major parties in the political system of the Republic of India, the other being the Indian National Congress (INC).[1][2] As of 2015[update], it is the country's largest political party in terms of representation in the national parliament.[3] Established in 1980, the BJP's platform is generally considered as the right-wing of the political spectrum.[4] As of 19 December 2023[update], 52 BJP leaders have held the position of a chief minister and Deputy Chief Minister out of which twelve and Eleven are incumbent.
A chief minister is the head of government of each of the twenty-eight states and three union territories (UTs) (Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry). According to the Constitution of India, at the state-level, the governor is de jure head, but de facto executive 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. The chief minister's term is usually for a maximum of five years, with the confidence of the assembly's confidence. There are no limits to the number of terms the chief minister can serve.[5] Deputy Chief Minister is a member of the state government and usually the second highest ranking executive officer of their state's council of ministers. While not a constitutional office, it seldom carries any specific powers.[1] A deputy chief minister usually also holds a cabinet portfolio such as home minister or finance minister. In the parliamentary system of government, the Chief Minister is treated as the "first among equals" in the cabinet; the position of deputy chief minister is used to bring political stability and strength within a coalition government.
Of the 52 BJP chief ministers, twelve are incumbent – Pema Khandu in Arunachal Pradesh, Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam, Vishnu Deo Sai in Chhattisgarh, Pramod Sawant in Goa, Bhupendrabhai Patel in Gujarat, Nayab Singh Saini in Haryana, Mohan Yadav in Madhya Pradesh, N. Biren Singh in Manipur, Bhajan Lal Sharma in Rajasthan, Manik Saha in Tripura, Pushkar Singh Dhami in Uttarakhand, and Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh. Four of the BJP chief ministers have been women – Sushma Swaraj in Delhi, Uma Bharti in Madhya Pradesh, Anandiben Patel in Gujarat and Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan. Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who is chief minister of Madhya Pradesh for more than 15 years has been the longest-serving chief minister from the BJP. Devendra Fadnavis's second tenure as the chief minister of Maharashtra lasted for only three days, which is the least tenure among chief ministers from BJP; however, taking the total of all the tenures into consideration, Sushma Swaraj served as a chief minister of Delhi for the shortest period of 52 days. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat of Rajasthan was the first chief minister from the BJP; however some BJP leaders had already been elected before as the chief minister while being a member of the Janata Party (JP), an amalgam of political parties which included BJP's predecessor Bharatiya Jana Sangh.[6] There have been seven chief ministers in Uttarakhand from the BJP, six chief ministers in Gujarat, five chief ministers in Madhya Pradesh, four chief ministers in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh each, and three in Delhi, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand each.
- ^ Edward A. Gargan (29 November 1993). "India's Two Major Political Parties Stumble in Regional Elections". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
- ^ "In Numbers: The Rise of BJP and decline of Congress". The Times of India. 19 May 2016. Archived from the original on 5 November 2017.
- ^ "Sixteenth Lok Sabha". Lok Sabha. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
- ^ Sagarika Dutt (12 November 2006). India in a Globalised World. Manchester University Press. p. 64. ISBN 9781847792143. Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
BJP is a right wing party and gives priority to the unity of the country.
- ^ Durga Das Basu (1960). Introduction to the Constitution of India (20th ed.). LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. pp. 241, 245. ISBN 978-81-8038-559-9.
- ^ "Janata Party merged with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)". jagranjosh.com. 12 August 2013. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2013.