Who is the oldest CM of India?

Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan (aged 79) is the oldest Chief Minister, while Arunachal Pradesh's Pema Khandu (aged 44) is the youngest Chief Minister. Nitish Kumar of Bihar has served for the most terms (9).

Who became chief minister four times?

He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is also the only politician so far in Karnataka to have served four times as the Chief Minister and three times as the Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

Who is the longest serving PM in India?

The longest-serving prime minister was Jawaharlal Nehru, also the first prime minister, whose tenure lasted 16 years and 286 days.

Longest Serving Chief Ministers of India from 1947-2024

Table of Contents

India, a union of 28 states and 9 union territories, is governed at the state level by Chief Ministers (CMs). Appointed by the Governor as per Article 164 of the Constitution, the CM is the head of the state government. While the usual tenure of a CM is five years, several have extended their leadership far beyond this, leaving a significant impact on their states. Read this article to know about longest-serving Chief Ministers in India, their tenures, and contributions.

List of Longest Serving Chief Ministers of India

Here is a detailed list of the longest-serving Chief Ministers in India, along with their respective states and durations of service:

S.No	Name	State/Union territory	Term of Office			Political party
			Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1	Pawan Kumar Chamling	Sikkim	12 December 1994	26 May 2019	24 years, 165 days	Sikkim Democratic Front
2	Naveen Patnaik	Odisha	5 March 2000	9 June 2024	24 years, 96 days	Biju Janata Dal
3	Jyoti Basu	West Bengal	21 June 1977	5 November 2000	23 years, 137 days	Communist Party of India (Marxist)
4	Gegong Apang	Arunachal Pradesh	18 January 1980	19 January 1999	22 years, 250 days	Indian National Congress
						Arunachal Congress
			3 August 2003	9 April 2007		United Democratic Front
						Bharatiya Janata Party
						Indian National Congress
5	Lal Thanhawla	Mizoram	5 May 1984	21 August 1986	22 years, 60 days	Indian National Congress
			24 January 1989	3 December 1998
			11 December 2008	15 December 2018
6	Virbhadra Singh	Himachal Pradesh	8 April 1983	5 March 1990	21 years, 13 days	Indian National Congress
			3 December 1993	24 March 1998
			6 March 2003	30 December 2007
			25 December 2012	27 December 2017
7	Manik Sarkar	Tripura	11 March 1998	9 March 2018	19 years, 363 days	Communist Party of India (Marxist)
8	M. Karunanidhi	Tamil Nadu	10 February 1969	31 January 1976	18 years, 362 days	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
			27 January 1989	30 January 1991
			13 May 1996	14 May 2001
			13 May 2006	16 May 2011
9	Parkash Singh Badal	Punjab	27 March 1970	14 June 1971	18 years, 350 days	Shiromani Akali Dal
			20 June 1977	17 February 1980
			12 February 1997	26 February 2002
			1 March 2007	16 March 2017
10	Yashwant Singh Parmar	Himachal Pradesh	8 March 1952	31 October 1956	18 years, 83 days	Indian National Congress
			1 July 1963	28 January 1977
11	Nitish Kumar	Bihar	3 March 2000	11 March 2000	17 years, 291 days	Samata Party
			24 November 2005	20 May 2014		Janata Dal (United)
			22 February 2015	Incumbent
12	Neiphiu Rio	Nagaland	6 March 2003	3 January 2008	17 years, 103 days	Naga People’s Front
			12 March 2008	24 May 2014
			8 March 2018	Incumbent		Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party
13	Shri Krishna Sinha	Bihar	20 July 1937	31 October 1939	17 years, 51 days	Indian National Congress
			2 April 1946	31 January 1961
14	Shivraj Singh Chouhan	Madhya Pradesh	29 November 2005	17 December 2018	16 years, 284 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
			23 March 2020	12 December 2023
15	Mohan Lal Sukhadia	Rajasthan	13 November 1954	13 March 1967	16 years, 194 days	Indian National Congress
			26 April 1967	9 July 1971
16	Pratapsingh Rane	Goa	16 January 1980	27 March 1990	15 years, 325 days	Indian National Congress
			16 December 1994	29 July 1998
			3 February 2005	4 March 2005
			7 June 2005	8 June 2007
17	S. C. Jamir	Nagaland	18 April 1980	5 June 1980	15 years, 151 days	United Democratic Front-Progressive
			18 November 1982	29 October 1986
			25 January 1989	16 May 1990		Indian National Congress
			22 February 1993	6 March 2003
18	Sheila Dikshit	Delhi	3 December 1998	28 December 2013	15 years, 25 days	Indian National Congress
19	Raman Singh	Chhattisgarh	7 December 2003	17 December 2018	15 years, 10 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
20	Okram Ibobi Singh	Manipur	7 March 2002	15 March 2017	15 years, 8 days	Indian National Congress
21	Tarun Gogoi	Assam	18 May 2001	24 May 2016	15 years, 6 days	Indian National Congress
22	Ashok Gehlot	Rajasthan	1 December 1998	8 December 2003	15 years, 6 days	Indian National Congress
			12 December 2008	13 December 2013
			17 December 2018	15 December 2023
23	Zoramthanga	Mizoram	3 December 1998	11 December 2008	15 years, 0 days	Mizo National Front
			15 December 2018	7 December 2023
24	N. Rangaswamy	Puducherry	27 October 2001	4 September 2008	15 years, 0 days	Indian National Congress
			16 May 2011	6 June 2016		All India N.R. Congress
			7 May 2021	Incumbent
25	Williamson A. Sangma	Meghalaya	2 April 1970	10 March 1978	14 years, 221 days	All Party Hill Leaders Conference
			7 May 1981	2 March 1983		Indian National Congress
			2 April 1983	6 February 1988
26	Bidhan Chandra Roy	West Bengal	23 January 1948	1 July 1962	14 years, 159 days	Indian National Congress
27	J. Jayalalithaa	Tamil Nadu	24 June 1991	12 May 1996	14 years, 124 days	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
			14 May 2001	21 September 2001
			2 March 2002	12 May 2006
			16 May 2011	27 September 2014
			23 May 2015	5 December 2016
28	Nar Bahadur Bhandari	Sikkim	18 October 1979	11 May 1984	13 years, 277 days	Sikkim Janata Parishad
			8 March 1985	18 May 1994		Sikkim Sangram Parishad
29	N. Chandrababu Naidu	Andhra Pradesh	1 September 1995	14 May 2004	13 years, 247 days	Telugu Desam Party
			8 June 2014	30 May 2019
30	Janaki Ballabh Patnaik	Odisha	9 June 1980	7 December 1989	13 years, 155 days	Indian National Congress
			15 March 1995	17 February 1999
31	Mamata Banerjee	West Bengal	20 May 2011	Incumbent	13 years, 18 days	All India Trinamool Congress
32	Bimala Prasad Chaliha	Assam	28 December 1957	11 November 1970	12 years, 318 days	Indian National Congress
33	Narendra Modi	Gujarat	7 October 2001	22 May 2014	12 years, 227 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
34	Bhajan Lal	Haryana	28 June 1979	23 May 1982	11 years, 300 days	Janata Party
			23 May 1982	5 June 1986		Indian National Congress
			23 June 1991	11 May 1996
35	Bansi Lal	Haryana	21 May 1968	1 December 1975	11 years, 283 days	Indian National Congress
			5 June 1986	20 June 1987
			11 May 1996	24 July 1999		Haryana Vikas Party
36	Vasantrao Naik	Maharashtra	5 December 1963	21 February 1975	11 years, 78 days	Indian National Congress
37	Farooq Abdullah	Jammu & Kashmir	8 September 1982	2 July 1984	11 years, 15 days	Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
			7 November 1986	19 January 1990
			9 October 1996	18 October 2002
38	Govind Ballabh Pant	Uttar Pradesh	17 July 1937	2 November 1939	11 years, 13 days	Indian National Congress
			1 April 1946	27 December 1954
39	E. K. Nayanar	Kerala	25 January 1980	20 October 1981	10 years, 355 days	Communist Party of India (Marxist)
			26 March 1987	24 June 1991
			20 May 1996	17 May 2001
40	M. O. H. Farook	Puducherry	9 April 1967	6 March 1968	10 years, 250 days	Indian National Congress
			17 March 1969	2 January 1974		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
			16 March 1985	8 March 1990		Indian National Congress
41	Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee	West Bengal	6 November 2000	13 May 2011	10 years, 188 days	Communist Party of India (Marxist)
42	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat	Rajasthan	22 June 1977	16 February 1980	10 years, 156 days	Janata Party
			4 March 1990	15 December 1992		Bharatiya Janata Party
			4 December 1993	1 December 1998
43	M. G. Ramachandran	Tamil Nadu	30 June 1977	17 February 1980	10 years, 65 days	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
			9 June 1980	24 December 1987
44	Nripen Chakraborty	Tripura	5 January 1978	5 February 1988	10 years, 31 days	Communist Party of India (Marxist)
45	Vasundhara Raje	Rajasthan	8 December 2003	12 December 2008	10 years, 8 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
			13 December 2013	17 December 2018
46	Digvijaya Singh	Madhya Pradesh	7 December 1993	8 December 2003	10 years, 1 day	Indian National Congress

Top 10 Longest Serving Chief Ministers of India

1. Pawan Kumar Chamling (Sikkim) – 24 years, 165 days

Pawan Kumar Chamling holds the record for the longest-serving Chief Minister in India. He was first sworn in on December 12, 1994, and governed Sikkim continuously until May 27, 2019. As the Founder and President of the Sikkim Democratic Front, Chamling led the state through five successive terms. His leadership saw significant development in the state’s infrastructure, education, and health sectors, transforming Sikkim into a model state.

2. Jyoti Basu (West Bengal) – 23 years, 137 days

Jyoti Basu served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal from June 21, 1977, to November 6, 2000. His tenure is notable for the land reforms and decentralization policies that aimed to benefit the rural population. Basu’s leadership under the Communist Party of India (Marxist) marked a significant period in West Bengal’s political history, contributing to its socio-economic transformation.

3. Gegong Apang (Arunachal Pradesh) – 22 years, 8 months, 5 days

Gegong Apang served as the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh for over 22 years across different terms. His tenure saw efforts to improve the state’s connectivity and infrastructure, addressing the unique challenges posed by its geographical and ethnic diversity.

4. Lal Thanhawla (Mizoram) – 21 years, 38 days

Lal Thanhawla’s long tenure as the Chief Minister of Mizoram spanned multiple terms from 1984 to 2018. His leadership played a crucial role in stabilizing the state post-insurgency and promoting peace and development through various socio-economic initiatives.

5. Virbhadra Singh (Himachal Pradesh) – 21 years

Virbhadra Singh’s tenure as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, spread across six terms, witnessed significant development in the state’s tourism and education sectors. His governance emphasized infrastructure development and improving the quality of life in rural areas.

6. Manik Sarkar (Tripura) – 19 years, 363 days

Manik Sarkar served as the Chief Minister of Tripura from March 11, 1998, to March 9, 2018. Under his leadership, Tripura achieved notable progress in literacy rates and rural development, despite being one of India’s smaller states with limited resources.

7. Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) – 24 years, 96 days

Naveen Patnaik has been serving as the Chief Minister of Odisha since March 5, 2000. Known for his clean image and effective governance, Patnaik has been instrumental in the state’s economic development and disaster management, especially during cyclones and other natural calamities.

8. M. Karunanidhi (Tamil Nadu) – 18 years, 293 days

M. Karunanidhi, a stalwart of Tamil Nadu politics, served as the Chief Minister across five terms between 1969 and 2011. His tenure is marked by significant contributions to Tamil culture, language, and the state’s socio-economic development.

9. Yashwant Singh Parmar (Himachal Pradesh) – 18 years, 30 days

Yashwant Singh Parmar, the architect of modern Himachal Pradesh, served as its first Chief Minister. His vision and leadership were pivotal in the state’s early developmental stages, laying the foundation for its future growth.

10. Parkash Singh Badal (Punjab) – 17 years, 261 days

Parkash Singh Badal, a key figure in Punjab’s politics, served as the Chief Minister for multiple terms. His tenure focused on agricultural reforms, infrastructure development, and the welfare of the state’s rural population.

Contributions and Legacy

These long-serving Chief Ministers have significantly impacted their respective states through various reforms and developmental policies. Their extended tenures allowed them to implement long-term strategies, fostering stability and growth. From Pawan Kumar Chamling’s transformation of Sikkim to Jyoti Basu’s land reforms in West Bengal, each leader’s legacy continues to influence their state’s trajectory.