List of chief ministers of Kerala

The Chief Minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. 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 Kerala 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 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 of Kerala
Seal of the Government of Kerala
Incumbent Pinarayi Vijayan since 25 May 2016
Style	The Honourable
Status	Head of Government
Member of	Kerala Legislature (Assembly Cabinet)
Residence	Cliff House, Thiruvananthapuram
Seat	Kerala Niyamasabha
Appointer	Governor of Kerala
Term length	5 years
Precursor	Prime Minister of Travancore Prime Minister of Cochin Chief Ministers of Travancore-Cochin
Inaugural holder	E. M. S. Namboodiripad (1957–1959)
Formation	5 April 1957
Website	CMO Kerala

A 15,000 sq. ft building on 4.5 acres of land, Cliff House in Thiruvananthapuram is the official residence of the Chief Minister of Kerala.

The origins of Kerala lie in the princely states of Travancore and Cochin. Following India's independence from the British Raj in 1947, these states' monarchs instituted a measure of representative government, headed by a Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers. On 1 July 1949 Travancore and Cochin were merged to form Travancore-Cochin state. On 1 November 1956, the States Reorganisation Act redrew India's map along linguistic lines, and the present-day state of Kerala was born, consisting solely of Malayalam-speaking districts. Since then, 12 people have served as the Chief Minister of Kerala. The first was E. M. S. Namboodiripad of the Communist Party of India, whose tenure was cut short by the imposition of President's rule. Kerala has come under President's rule for four years over seven terms, the last of them in 1982. Since then the office has alternated between leaders of the Indian National Congress and of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The latter party's Pinarayi Vijayan is the incumbent chief minister; his Left Democratic Front government has been in office since 25 May 2016.

Colour key for parties

Communist Party of India   Communist Party of India (Marxist)   Indian National Congress   Indian National Congress (I)   Indian Union Muslim League   Praja Socialist Party   N/A (President's rule)

Precursors

Prime Ministers of Travancore

No.[lower-alpha 1]	Name	Portrait	Term[2][3] (tenure length)			Assembly (election)	Party
			From	To	Days in office
1	Pattom Thanu Pillai		24 March 1948	17 October 1948	210 days	Representative Body (1948–49)	Indian National Congress
2	Paravoor T. K. Narayana Pillai		22 October 1948	1 July 1949	253 days

Prime Ministers of Cochin

No.[lower-alpha 1]	Name	Portrait	Term[2] (tenure length)			Assembly (election)	Party
			From	To	Days in office
1	Panampilly Govinda Menon		14 August 1947	22 October 1947	51 days	Sixth Council (1945–48)	None
2	T. K. Nair		27 October 1947	20 September 1948	334 days
3	E. Ikkanda Warrier		20 September 1948	30 June 1949	283 days	Legislative Assembly (1948–49)

Chief Ministers of Travancore-Cochin

After India's independence in 1947, Travancore and Cochin were merged to form Travancore-Cochin on 1 July 1949. On 1 January 1950, Travancore-Cochin was recognised as a state.

No.[lower-alpha 1]	Name	Portrait	Term[2] (tenure length)			Assembly (election)	Party[lower-alpha 2]
			From	To	Days in office
1	Paravoor T. K. Narayana Pillai		1 July 1949	1 March 1951	1 year, 243 days	First Assembly (1949–51)	Indian National Congress
2	C. Kesavan		3 March 1951	12 March 1952	1 year, 11 days
3	A. J. John		12 March 1952	16 March 1954	2 years, 4 days	Second Assembly (1952–53) (1951 election)
4	Pattom Thanu Pillai		16 March 1954	10 February 1955	331 days	Third Assembly (1954–56) (1954 election)	Praja Socialist Party
5	Panampilly Govinda Menon		10 February 1955	23 March 1956	1 year, 42 days		Indian National Congress
–	Vacant[lower-alpha 3] (President's rule)		23 March 1956	31 October 1956	222 days	Dissolved	N/A

Chief Ministers of Kerala

The Government of India's 1 November 1956 States Reorganisation Act inaugurated the new Kerala state, incorporating Malabar District, Travancore-Cochin (excluding 4 southern taluks which were merged with Tamil Nadu), and the Kasaragod taluk of South Kanara district. A new Legislative Assembly was also created, for which elections were held in 1957.

No.[lower-alpha 1]	Name[5] Ministry	Portrait	Constituency	Term[6][7] (tenure length)			Assembly[8] (election)	Party[lower-alpha 2] (alliance)
				From	To	Days in office
–	Vacant[lower-alpha 3] (President's rule)		N/A	1 November 1956	5 April 1957	155 days	Dissolved	N/A
1	E. M. S. Namboodiripad 1st EMS ministry		Nileshwaram	5 April 1957	31 July 1959	2 years, 117 days	First Assembly (1957–59) (1957 election)	Communist Party of India
–	Vacant[lower-alpha 3] (President's rule)		N/A	31 July 1959	22 February 1960	206 days	Dissolved	N/A
2	Pattom A. Thanu Pillai Thanupillai ministry		Trivandrum II	22 February 1960	26 September 1962	2 years, 216 days	Second Assembly (1960–64) (1960 election)	Praja Socialist Party
3	R. Sankar Sankar ministry		Cannanore I	26 September 1962	10 September 1964	1 year, 350 days		Indian National Congress
–	Vacant[lower-alpha 3] (President's rule)		N/A	10 September 1964	25 March 1965	2 years, 177 days	Dissolved	N/A
				25 March 1965	6 March 1967	2 years, 177 days	Dissolved (1965 election)[lower-alpha 4]
(1)	E. M. S. Namboodiripad 2nd EMS ministry		Pattambi	6 March 1967	1 November 1969	2 years, 240 days; (total 4 years, 357 days)	Third Assembly (1967–70) (1967 election)	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Saptakakshi Munnani)
4	C. Achutha Menon 1st Achutha Menon ministry		Kottarakkara	1 November 1969	1 August 1970	273 days		Communist Party of India
–	Vacant[lower-alpha 3] (President's rule)		N/A	4 August 1970	3 October 1970	60 days	Dissolved	N/A
(4)	C. Achutha Menon 2nd Achutha Menon ministry		Kodakara	4 October 1970	25 March 1977	6 years, 172 days; (total 7 years, 80 days)	Fourth Assembly (1970–77) (1970 election)	Communist Party of India (United Front)
5	K. Karunakaran 1st Karunakaran ministry		Mala	25 March 1977	25 April 1977	31 days	Fifth Assembly (1977–79) (1977 election)	Indian National Congress (United Front)
6	A. K. Antony 1st Antony ministry		Kazhakkuttom	27 April 1977	27 October 1978	1 year, 183 days
7	P. K. Vasudevan Nair PKV ministry		Alleppey	29 October 1978	7 October 1979	343 days		Communist Party of India (United Front)
8	C. H. Mohammed Koya Koya ministry		Malappuram	12 October 1979	1 December 1979	50 days		Indian Union Muslim League (United Front)
–	Vacant[lower-alpha 3] (President's rule)		N/A	5 December 1979	25 January 1980	51 days	Dissolved	N/A
9	E. K. Nayanar 1st Nayanar ministry		Malampuzha	25 January 1980	20 October 1981	1 year, 268 days	Sixth Assembly (1980–82) (1980 election)	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Left Democratic Front)
–	Vacant[lower-alpha 3] (President's rule)		N/A	21 October 1981	28 December 1981	68 days		N/A
(5)	K. Karunakaran 2nd Karunakaran ministry		Mala	28 December 1981	17 March 1982	79 days		Indian National Congress (I) (United Democratic Front)
–	Vacant[lower-alpha 3] (President's rule)		N/A	17 March 1982	23 May 1982	67 days; (total 4 years, 54 days)	Dissolved	N/A
(5)	K. Karunakaran 3rd Karunakaran ministry		Mala	24 May 1982	25 March 1987	4 years, 305 days	Seventh Assembly (1982–87) (1982 election)	Indian National Congress (United Democratic Front)
(9)	E. K. Nayanar 2nd Nayanar ministry		Trikaripur	26 March 1987	17 June 1991	4 years, 83 days	Eighth Assembly (1987–91) (1987 election)	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Left Democratic Front)
(5)	K. Karunakaran 4th Karunakaran ministry		Mala	24 June 1991	16 March 1995	3 years, 265 days; (total 8 years, 315 days)	Ninth Assembly (1991–96) (1991 election)	Indian National Congress (United Democratic Front)
(6)	A. K. Antony 2nd Antony ministry		Thirurangadi	22 March 1995	9 May 1996	1 year, 48 days
(9)	E. K. Nayanar 3rd Nayanar ministry		Thalassery	20 May 1996	13 May 2001	5 years, 24 days; (total 11 years, 10 days)	Tenth Assembly (1996–2001) (1996 election)	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Left Democratic Front)
(6)	A. K. Antony 3rd Antony ministry		Cherthala	17 May 2001	29 August 2004	3 years, 75 days; (total 5 years, 306 days)	Eleventh Assembly (2001–06) (2001 election)	Indian National Congress (United Democratic Front)
10	Oommen Chandy 1st Chandy ministry		Puthuppally	31 August 2004	12 May 2006	1 year, 254 days
11	V. S. Achuthanandan Achuthanandan ministry		Malampuzha	18 May 2006	14 May 2011	4 years, 361 days	Twelfth Assembly (2006–11) (2006 election)	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Left Democratic Front)
(10)	Oommen Chandy 2nd Chandy ministry		Puthuppally	18 May 2011	20 May 2016	5 years, 2 days; (total 6 years, 256 days)	Thirteenth Assembly (2011–16) (2011 election)	Indian National Congress (United Democratic Front)
12	Pinarayi Vijayan Vijayan ministry		Dharmadam	25 May 2016	Incumbent	4 years, 260 days	Fourteenth Assembly (2016–21) (2016 election)	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Left Democratic Front)

See also

• Kerala Council of Ministers
• Deputy Chief Ministers of Kerala

Notes

Footnotes

1. A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
2. This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he headed may have been a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
3. 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.[4]
4. As the 1965 election did not deliver a clear mandate in favour of any party or coalition, no assembly was convened, and President's rule was re-imposed.

References

1. 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 Kerala as well.
2. Responsible Governments (1947–56). Kerala Legislature. Retrieved on 22 April 2014.
3. History of Kerala Legislature. Government of Kerala. Archived on 6 October 2014.
4. Amberish K. Diwanji. "A dummy's guide to President's rule". Rediff.com. 15 March 2005.
5. Chief Ministers, Ministers and Leaders of Opposition in Kerala. Secretariat of the Kerala Legislature. Retrieved on 28 August 2018.
6. Chief Ministers of Kerala since 1957. Kerala Legislature. Retrieved on 22 April 2014.
7. President's rule in Kerala. Kerala Legislature. Retrieved on 22 April 2014.
8. Duration of Each Assembly. Kerala Legislature. Retrieved on 22 April 2014.

External links

• Official website of Chief Minister of Kerala