Chief Minister of Assam

Chief Minister of Assam
Chief Minister of Assam
	Emblem of Assam
	Flag of India
	Incumbent; Himanta Biswa Sarma; since 10 May 2021
	Chief Minister's Office; Government of Assam;
Type	Leader of the Executive
Status	Head of government
Abbreviation	CMoAssam
Member of	Legislative Assembly; State Cabinet;
Reports to	Governor of Assam; Assam Legislative Assembly
Residence	Guwahati
Seat	State Secretariat, Dispur
Appointer	Governor of Assam; by convention based on appointees ability to command confidence in the Legislative Assembly
Term length	At the confidence of the assembly; Chief Minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.
Precursor	Premier of Assam
Inaugural holder	Gopinath Bordoloi
Formation	26 January 1950; (76 years ago)
Deputy	Deputy Chief Minister of Assam
Salary	₹160,000 (US$1,700
Website	https://cm.assam.gov.in/

The chief minister of Assam, an Indian state, is the head of the government of Assam. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is the state's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Assam 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.^[1] Chief Minister also serves as Leader of the House in the Legislative Assembly.^[2]

Since 1946, Assam has had 17 chief ministers. Ten of them belonged to the Indian National Congress, including Gopinath Bordoloi, the first chief minister of Assam, and Anwara Taimur, India's first female Muslim chief minister. Congress party's continuous rule in the state was brought to an end when Golap Borbora led the Janata party to victory in the 1978 elections. Borbora consequently became the first non-Congress chief minister of the state. Prior to that, Borbora was also the first non-Congress leader to be elected to the Rajya Sabha from the state. Congressman Tarun Gogoi is the longest-serving officeholder, having served for 15 years between 2001 and 2016. Sarbananda Sonowal became the first chief minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party, when he was sworn in on 24 May 2016. On 9 May 2021, Himanta Biswa Sarma was announced as the 15th chief minister of Assam.^[3]

Oath as the state chief minister

The chief minister serves five years in the office. The following is the oath of the Deputy chief minister of state:

I, <Name of Chief Minister>, do swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, that I will faithfully and conscientiously discharge my duties as a Minister for the State of () and that I will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.

Oath of Secrecy

"I, [Name], do swear in the name of God / solemnly affirm that I will not directly or indirectly communicate or reveal to any person or persons any matter which shall be brought under my consideration or shall become known to me as a Minister for the State of [Name of State] except as may be required for the due discharge of my duties as such Minister.Moi, [Apunar Naam], iaswaror namot sapun loisu / drirhatare protigya korisu je, moi bidi dara sthapit Bharatborkhor songbidhanor proti sosa sroddha aru loyalty (anugotya) poson korim; moi Bharatborkhor sarbobhoumotto (sovereignty) aru अखंडता (akhandata) রক্ষা (rokshya) korim; moi [Rajyor Naam] rajyor mukhyamantri rupe mor kortobbyobur nispokhopathwabe, bhay-bhiti, ror-alor ba bhed-bhab nohowakoi, hokolubur manuhor proti songbidhan aru ain onuhori nyaipurnobhabe palon korim." 2. Oath of Secrecy (Goponiyator Sapun) "Moi, [Apunar Naam], iaswaror namot sapun loisu / drirhatare protigya korisu je, [Rajyor Naam] rajyor mukhyamantri rupe mor bibeosonalyi ona ba moi gumpua jikunu bikhoy, mor kortobbyobur huthurube palon koribloi proyojon huwar bahi, porokhyo ba protokhyobhabe kunu byokti ba byoktisokolok olopwru prokhash nokorim ba jonablloi nidiw."

List of Prime ministers Assam Province (1937-50)

Under the Government of India Act 1935, a bicameral legislature was set up with a legislative assembly and a legislative council. The premier of Assam was the head of the government and leader of the legislative assembly of Assam Province.

#^[a]	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Term of office^[4]			Assembly	Party^[b] (coalition)
1		Muhammed Saadulah	Kamrup (South)	1 April 1937	19 September 1938	1 year, 171 days	1st Provincial (1937 election)	Assam Valley Party (INC)
2		Gopinath Bordoloi	Kamrup Sadar (South)	19 September 1938	17 November 1939	1 year, 59 days		Indian National Congress
(1)		Muhammed Saadulah	Kamrup (South)	17 November 1939	24 December 1941	2 years, 37 days		Assam Valley Party (AIML)
-	-	Vacant (Governor's Rule)	-	25 December 1941	24 August 1942	242 days	Dissolved	N/A
(1)		Muhammed Saadulah	Kamrup (South)	25 August 1942	11 February 1946	3 years, 170 days	1st Provincial (1937 election)	Assam Valley Party (AIML)
(2)		Gopinath Bordoloi	Kamrup Sadar (South)	11 February 1946	25 January 1950	3 years, 349 days	2nd Provincial (1946 election)	Indian National Congress

List of chief ministers of Assam (1950-present)

Note: ^† Died in office

#^[c]	Name	Constituency	Term of office^[5]			Assembly	Party^[d]
1	Gopinath Bordoloi	Kamrup Sadar South	26 January 1950	5 August 1950^[†]	191 days	2nd Provincial (1946 election)	Indian National Congress
2	Bishnuram Medhi	Hajo	9 August 1950	5 March 1952	7 years, 141 days	2nd Provincial (1946 election)
			5 March 1952	27 February 1957		1st (1952 election)
			27 February 1957	28 December 1957		2nd (1957 election)
3	Bimala Prasad Chaliha	Badarpur	28 December 1957	22 March 1962	12 years, 318 days	2nd (1957 election)
		Sonari	22 March 1962	16 March 1967		3rd (1962 election)
		Sonari	16 March 1967	11 November 1970		4th (1967 election)
4	Mahendra Mohan Choudhry	Gauhati East	11 November 1970	31 January 1972	1 year, 81 days	4th (1967 election)
5	Sarat Chandra Sinha	Bilasipara East	31 January 1972	12 March 1978	6 years, 40 days	5th (1972 election)
6	Golap Borbora	Tinsukia	12 March 1978	9 September 1979	1 year, 181 days	6th (1978 election)	Janata Party
7	Jogendra Nath Hazarika	Duliajan	9 September 1979	12 December 1979	94 days		Janata Party
–	Vacant^[e] (President's rule)	N/A	12 December 1979	6 December 1980	360 days		N/A
8	Anwara Taimur	Dalgaon	6 December 1980	30 June 1981	206 days		Indian National Congress
–	Vacant^[e] (President's rule)	N/A	30 June 1981	13 January 1982	197 days		N/A
9	Kesab Chandra Gogoi	Dibrugarh	13 January 1982	19 March 1982	65 days		Indian National Congress
–	Vacant^[e] (President's rule)	N/A	19 March 1982	27 February 1983	345 days	Dissolved	N/A
10	Hiteswar Saikia	Nazira	27 February 1983	24 December 1985	2 years, 300 days	7th (1983 election)	Indian National Congress
11	Prafulla Kumar Mahanta	Nowgong	24 December 1985	28 November 1990	4 years, 339 days	8th (1985 election)	Asom Gana Parishad
–	Vacant^[e] (President's rule)	N/A	28 November 1990	30 June 1991	214 days	Dissolved	N/A
(10)	Hiteswar Saikia	Nazira	30 June 1991	22 April 1996^[†]	4 years, 297 days	9th (1991 election)	Indian National Congress
12	Bhumidhar Barman	Barkhetri	22 April 1996	15 May 1996	23 days	9th (1991 election)	Indian National Congress
(11)	Prafulla Kumar Mahanta	Barhampur	15 May 1996	18 May 2001	5 years, 3 days	10th (1996 election)	Asom Gana Parishad
13	Tarun Gogoi	Titabor	18 May 2001	29 May 2006	15 years, 6 days	11th (2001 election)	Indian National Congress
			29 May 2006	13 May 2011		12th (2006 election)
			13 May 2011	24 May 2016		13th (2011 election)
14	Sarbananda Sonowal	Majuli	24 May 2016	10 May 2021	4 years, 351 days	14th (2016 election)	Bharatiya Janata Party
15	Himanta Biswa Sarma	Jalukbari	10 May 2021	12 May 2026	5 years, 33 days	15th (2021 election)
15	Himanta Biswa Sarma	Jalukbari	12 May 2026	Incumbent	5 years, 33 days	16th (2026 election)

Statistics

List by chief minister

#	Chief Minister	Party		Term of office
#	Chief Minister	Party		Longest tenure	Total tenure
1	Tarun Gogoi		INC	15 years, 6 days	15 years, 6 days
2	Bimala Prasad Chaliha		INC	12 years, 318 days	12 years, 318 days
3	Prafulla Kumar Mahanta		AGP	5 years, 3 days	9 years, 342 days
4	Hiteswar Saikia		INC	4 years, 297 days	7 years, 232 days
5	Bishnuram Medhi		INC	7 years, 141 days	7 years, 141 days
6	Sarat Chandra Sinha		INC	6 years, 40 days	6 years, 40 days
7	Himanta Biswa Sarma		BJP	5 years, 33 days	5 years, 33 days
8	Sarbananda Sonowal		BJP	4 years, 351 days	4 years, 351 days
9	Golap Borbora		JP	1 year, 181 days	1 year, 181 days
10	Mahendra Mohan Choudhry		INC	1 year, 81 days	1 year, 81 days
11	Anwara Taimur		INC	206 days	206 days
12	Gopinath Bordoloi		INC	191 days	191 days
13	Kesab Chandra Gogoi		INC	65 days	65 days
14	Jogendra Nath Hazarika		JP	94 days	94 days
15	Bhumidhar Barman		INC	23 days	23 days

Timeline

Fraction of time of holding Chief minister's office by party (as of December 2025)

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Notes

↑ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
↑ This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
↑ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
↑ This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
1 2 3 4 When President's rule is in force in a state, its council of ministers stands dissolved. The office of chief minister thus lies vacant. At times, the legislative assembly also stands dissolved.^[6]

References

1 2 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 Assam as well.
↑ https://apuat21.cgg.gov.in/web/legislative-assembly/leader-of-the-house
↑ "Himanta Biswa Sarma Crowned 15th Chief Minister Of Assam". Pratidin Time. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
↑ Chief Ministers Archived 16 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine from the Assam Assembly website
↑ Chief Ministers Archived 16 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine from the Assam Assembly website
↑ Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005. Retrieved on 3 March 2013.

[4] 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 heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.

[7] A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.

[9] This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.

[PR-11] 1 2 3 4 When President's rule is in force in a state, its council of ministers stands dissolved. The office of chief minister thus lies vacant. At times, the legislative assembly also stands dissolved.^[6]

[term1-1] 1 2 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 Assam as well.

[2] ttps://apuat21.cgg.gov.in/web/legislative-assembly/leader-of-the-house

[3] "Himanta Biswa Sarma Crowned 15th Chief Minister Of Assam". Pratidin Time. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.

[:0-5] Chief Ministers Archived 16 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine from the Assam Assembly website

[:02-8] Chief Ministers Archived 16 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine from the Assam Assembly website

[10] Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005. Retrieved on 3 March 2013.

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