The chief minister is the chief executive of the Indian state. In accordance with 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 legislative assembly, the state's 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 she has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.^[1]

Since 1963, India has had 16 female chief ministers. The first woman to become chief minister was Sucheta Kripalani of the Indian National Congress party, who was sworn in on 2 October 1963 as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. The longest-serving female chief minister was Sheila Dikshit, who served as the chief minister of the National Capital Territory of Delhi for the Indian National Congress and held the office for over fifteen years. J. Jayalalithaa, former general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, served as chief minister of Tamil Nadu and has the second-longest tenure; she held the office until her death in 2016, becoming the first female chief minister to die in office, while V. N. Janaki Ramachandran of the same state and party has the shortest tenure (only 23 days). Only 12 states and 1 union territory in India had female chief ministers, out of 28 states and 8 union territories. Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal is the only female incumbent chief minister in India.

Chronological list

AIADMK   (2)   AITC   (1)   BJP   (4)   BSP   (1)   INC   (5)   JKPDP   (1)   MGP   (1)   RJD   (1)
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			State/Union territory	Political party[a]
			Assumed Office	Left Office	Time in Office
1		Sucheta Kripalani (1908–1974)	2 October 1963	13 March 1967	3 years, 162 days	Uttar Pradesh	Indian National Congress
2		Nandini Satpathy (1931–2006)	14 June 1972	3 March 1973	3 years, 182 days	Odisha
			6 March 1974	16 December 1976[RES]
3		Shashikala Kakodkar (1935–2016)	12 August 1973	27 April 1979	5 years, 258 days	Goa	Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
4		Anwara Taimur (1936–2020)	6 December 1980	30 June 1981	206 days	Assam	Indian National Congress
5		V. N. Janaki Ramachandran (1924–1996)	7 January 1988	30 January 1988	23 days	Tamil Nadu	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
6		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)	24 June 1991	12 May 1996	14 years, 124 days
			14 May 2001	21 September 2001[RES]
			2 March 2002	12 May 2006
			16 May 2011	27 September 2014
			23 May 2015	5 December 2016[†]
7		Mayawati (1956–)	13 June 1995	18 October 1995	7 years, 5 days	Uttar Pradesh	Bahujan Samaj Party
			21 March 1997	21 September 1997[RES]
			3 May 2002	29 August 2003[RES]
			13 May 2007	15 March 2012
8		Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (1945–)	21 November 1996	12 February 1997	83 days	Punjab	Indian National Congress
9		Rabri Devi (1955–)	25 July 1997	11 February 1999	7 years, 190 days	Bihar	Rashtriya Janata Dal
			9 March 1999	2 March 2000[RES]
			11 March 2000	6 March 2005
10		Sushma Swaraj (1952–2019)	12 October 1998	3 December 1998	52 days	National Capital Territory of Delhi	Bharatiya Janata Party
11		Sheila Dikshit (1938–2019)	3 December 1998	28 December 2013	15 years, 25 days		Indian National Congress
12		Uma Bharti (1959–)	8 December 2003	23 August 2004[RES]	259 days	Madhya Pradesh	Bharatiya Janata Party
13		Vasundhara Raje (1953–)	8 December 2003	13 December 2008	10 years, 9 days	Rajasthan
			13 December 2013	17 December 2018
14		Mamata Banerjee* (1955–)	20 May 2011	Incumbent	11 years, 315 days	West Bengal	All India Trinamool Congress
15		Anandiben Patel (1941–)	22 May 2014	7 August 2016[RES]	2 years, 77 days	Gujarat	Bharatiya Janata Party
16		Mehbooba Mufti (1959–)	4 April 2016	19 June 2018	2 years, 76 days	Jammu and Kashmir	Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party