Chief Minister of Karnataka

Chief Minister of Karnataka
Chief Minister of Karnataka
Karnāṭakada Mukhyamantri
	Emblem of Karnataka
	Flag of India
	Incumbent ; D. K. Shivakumar ; (Designate) ; since 03 June 2026
	Chief Minister's Office; Government of Karnataka;
Style	The Honourable
Type	Leader of the Executive
Status	Head of government
Member of	State Cabinet; State Legislature;
Reports to	Governor of Karnataka; Karnataka Legislature;
Residence	Anugraha, Bangalore
Seat	Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru
Nominator	MLAs of the majority party of alliance
Appointer	Governor of Karnataka; by convention based on appointees ability to command confidence in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly
Term length	At the confidence of the assembly; Chief minister's term is for 5 years and is subject to no term limits.
Precursor	Dewan of Mysore
Inaugural holder	K. Chengalaraya Reddy (as the chief minister of Mysore; before state's reorganization); S. Nijalingappa (as the chief minister of Mysore; after state's reorganization); D. Devaraj Urs (as the chief minister of Karnataka);
Formation	1 November 1956 (69 years ago)
Deputy	Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka
Salary	₹200,000 (US$2,100)/monthly; ₹2,400,000 (US$25,000)/annually;
Website	cm.karnataka.gov.in

The Chief Minister of Karnataka is the head of government of the Indian state of Karnataka. As per the Constitution of India, the governor of Karnataka is the state's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister, a template applicable to all other Indian states. Following elections to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, the governor usually invites the political party (or a coalition of political parties) with a majority of assembly seats to form the government in the state. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers is collectively responsible to the assembly. Given that he/she has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years, renewable, and is subject to no term limits.^[1] Usually, the chief minister also serves as leader of the house in the legislative assembly.^[2]

Historically, this office replaced that of the dewan of Mysore of the erstwhile Kingdom of Mysore with India's constitution into a republic. Since 1947, there have been a total of twenty-three chief ministers of Mysore (as the state was known before 1 November 1973) and Karnataka. A majority of them belonged to the Indian National Congress (INC) party, including the inaugural officeholder K. Chengalaraya Reddy. The current and the longest-serving chief minister is Siddaramaiah, who has held the office for over eight years. INC's Veerendra Patil had the largest gap between two terms (over eighteen years). B. D. Jatti, served as the country's fifth vice president, while H. D. Deve Gowda, went on to become the eleventh prime minister of India. B. S. Yediyurappa who was the first chief minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), served as the chief minister of the state for four terms in 2007, 2008, 2018 and 2019, the only one to do so. S. R. Bommai served as the chief minister representing the Janata Parivar, whose son Basavaraj Bommai became chief minister representing the BJP in 2021 becoming the second father-son duo to serve office after Deve Gowda and HD Kumaraswamy. There have been six instances of president's rule in Karnataka, most recently from 2007 to 2008.

Predecessors

Prime ministers of Mysore State

The princely state of Kingdom of Mysore, which existed during the British Raj, was organised into Mysore state after the Indian Independence in 1947.^[3]

#	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Home District	Term^[4] (tenure length)			Assembly^[5] (election)	Party^[a]
1		Kyasamballi Chengaluraya Reddy	N/A	N/A	25 October 1947	26 January 1950	2 years, 93 days	Not established yet	Indian National Congress

Chief ministers of Mysore State

Following the adoption of the Constitution of India, the executive of the Mysore State was led by a chief minister.

#	Name	Constituency	Home District	Term^[4] (tenure length)			Assembly^[5] (election)	Party^[a]
1	Kyasamballi Chengaluraya Reddy	N/A	N/A	26 January 1950	30 March 1952	2 years, 64 days	Not established yet	Indian National Congress
2	Kengal Hanumanthaiah	Ramanagara	Bengaluru South (then part of Undivided Bengaluru)	30 March 1952	19 August 1956	4 years, 142 days	1st (1952 election)
3	Kadidal Manjappa	Tirthahalli	Shivamogga	19 August 1956	31 October 1956	73 days	1st (1952 election)

Chief Minister of Coorg State

Chief ministers of Karnataka

On 1 November 1956, as per the States Reorganisation Act, which organised states along the linguistic lines, Mysore State was expanded with the inclusion of the Kannada-speaking districts of Bombay, Hyderabad and Madras States, and the entirety of Coorg.^[6] On 1 November 1973, Mysore State was renamed as Karnataka via the Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Act.^[7]

#	Name	Constituency	Home District	Term^[4]			Assembly^[5] (election)	Party^[a]
Chief Minister of Mysore^[b]
1	Siddavanahalli Nijalingappa	Molakalmuru	Chitradurga	31 October 1956	16 May 1958	1 year, 197 days	...continued 1st (1952)	Indian National Congress
1	Siddavanahalli Nijalingappa	Molakalmuru	Chitradurga	31 October 1956	16 May 1958	1 year, 197 days	2nd (1957)
2	Basappa Danappa Jatti	Jamkhandi	Bagalkote (then part of undivided Vijayapura)	16 May 1958	14 March 1962	3 years, 302 days	2nd (1957)
3	Shivalingappa Rudrappa Kanthi	Hungund	Bagalkote (then part of undivided Vijayapura)	14 March 1962	21 June 1962	99 days	3rd (1962)
(1)	Siddavanahalli Nijalingappa	Shiggaon	Haveri (then part of undivided Dharwad)	21 June 1962	29 May 1968	5 years, 343 days	3rd (1962)
(1)	Siddavanahalli Nijalingappa	Bagalkot	Bagalkote (then part of undivided Vijayapura)	21 June 1962	29 May 1968	5 years, 343 days	4th (1967)
4	Veerendra Basappa Patil	Chincholi	Kalaburagi	29 May 1968	18 March 1971	2 years, 293 days	4th (1967)	Indian National Congress (O)
–	Vacant^[c] (President's rule)	N/A	N/A	18 March 1971	20 March 1972	1 year, 2 days	Dissolved	N/A
5	Devaraj Devaraj Arasu^[d]	Hunsur	Mysuru	20 March 1972	31 October 1973	1 year, 225 days	5th (1972)	Indian National Congress (R)
Chief Minister of Karnataka^[d]
1	Devaraj Devaraj Arasu	Hunsur	Mysuru	1 November 1973	31 December 1977	4 years, 60 days	...continued 5th (1972)	Indian National Congress (R)
–	Vacant^[c] (President's rule)	N/A	N/A	31 December 1977	28 February 1978	59 days	Dissolved	N/A
(1)	Devaraj Devaraj Arasu	Hunsur	Mysuru	28 February 1978	12 January 1980	1 year, 318 days	6th (1978)	Indian National Congress
2	Rama Gundu Rao	Somwarpet	Kodagu	12 January 1980	10 January 1983	2 years, 363 days	6th (1978)	Indian National Congress
3	Ramakrishna Mahabaleshwar Hegde	Kanakapura	Bengaluru South (then part of Undivided Bengaluru)	10 January 1983	7 March 1985^[e]	5 years, 216 days	7th (1983)	Janata Party
3	Ramakrishna Mahabaleshwar Hegde	Basavanagudi	Bengaluru Urban (then part of Undivided Bengaluru)	8 March 1985	13 August 1988^[f]	5 years, 216 days	8th (1985)
4	Somappa Rayappa Bommai	Hubli Rural	Dharwad	13 August 1988	21 April 1989	251 days	8th (1985)
–	Vacant^[c] (President's rule)	N/A	N/A	21 April 1989	30 November 1989	223 days	Dissolved	N/A
5	Veerendra Basappa Patil	Chincholi	Kalaburagi	30 November 1989	10 October 1990	314 days	9th (1989)	Indian National Congress
–	Vacant^[c] (President's rule)	N/A	N/A	10 October 1990	17 October 1990	7 days		N/A
6	Sarekoppa Bangarappa	Soraba	Shivamogga	17 October 1990	19 November 1992	2 years, 33 days		Indian National Congress
7	Marpadi Veerappa Moily	Karkala	Udupi (then part of undivided Dakshina Kannada)	19 November 1992	11 December 1994	2 years, 22 days		Indian National Congress
8	Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda	Ramanagara	Bengaluru South (then part of Undivided Bengaluru Rural)	11 December 1994	31 May 1996	1 year, 172 days	10th (1994)	Janata Dal
9	Jayadevappa Halappa Patel	Channagiri	Davanagere (then part of Undivided Shivamogga)	31 May 1996	11 October 1999	3 years, 133 days	10th (1994)	Janata Dal
10	Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna	Maddur	Mandya	11 October 1999	28 May 2004	4 years, 230 days	11th (1999)	Indian National Congress
11	Dharam Narayan Singh	Jevargi	Kalaburagi	28 May 2004	3 February 2006	1 year, 251 days	12th (2004)	Indian National Congress
12	Haradanahalli Devegowda Kumaraswamy	Ramanagara	Ramanagara (then part of Undivided Bengaluru Rural)	3 February 2006	8 October 2007	1 year, 247 days		Janata Dal (Secular)
–	Vacant^[c] (President's rule)	N/A	N/A	8 October 2007	12 November 2007	35 days		N/A
13	Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa	Shikaripura	Shivamogga	12 November 2007	19 November 2007	7 days		Bharatiya Janata Party
–	Vacant^[c] (President's rule)	N/A	N/A	19 November 2007	29 May 2008	193 days	Dissolved	N/A
(13)	Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa	Shikaripura	Shivamogga	30 May 2008	5 August 2011	3 years, 67 days	13th (2008)	Bharatiya Janata Party
14	Devaragunda Venkappa Sadananda Gowda	Legislative Assembly (MLC)	N/A	5 August 2011	12 July 2012	342 days
15	Jagadish Shivappa Shettar	Hubli-Dharwad Central	Dharwad	12 July 2012	13 May 2013	305 days
16	Siddaramaiah Siddarame Gowda	Varuna	Mysuru	13 May 2013	17 May 2018	5 years, 4 days	14th (2013)	Indian National Congress
(13)	Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa	Shikaripura	Shivamogga	17 May 2018	23 May 2018	6 days	15th (2018)	Bharatiya Janata Party
(12)	Haradanahalli Devegowda Kumaraswamy	Channapatna	Ramanagara	23 May 2018	26 July 2019	1 year, 64 days		Janata Dal (Secular)
(13)	Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa	Shikaripura	Shivamogga	26 July 2019	28 July 2021	2 years, 2 days		Bharatiya Janata Party
17	Basavaraj Somappa Bommai	Shiggaon	Haveri	28 July 2021	20 May 2023	1 year, 296 days		Bharatiya Janata Party
(16)	Siddaramaiah Siddarame Gowda	Varuna	Mysuru	20 May 2023	3 June 2026	3 years, 14 days	16th (2023)	Indian National Congress
18	Doddalahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar	Kanakapura	Ramanagara	3 June 2026	Incumbent	−3 days	16th (2023)	Indian National Congress

Statistics

Time held in office by party (as of March 2026)

Indian National Congress (65.8%)
Bharatiya Janata Party (13.2%)
Janata Dal (7.24%)
Janata Party (9.53%)
Janata Party (Secular) (4.27%)

#	Name	Party		Length of term
#	Name	Party		Longest tenure	Total tenure
1	Siddaramaiah		INC	5 years, 4 days	8 years, 18 days
2	D. Devaraj Urs		INC / INC(R)	5 years, 286 days	7 years, 239 days
3	S. Nijalingappa		INC	5 years, 343 days	7 years, 175 days
4	Ramakrishna Hegde		JP	5 years, 216 days	5 years, 216 days
5	B. S. Yediyurappa		BJP	3 years, 67 days	5 years, 82 days
6	S. M. Krishna		INC	4 years, 230 days	4 years, 230 days
7	B. D. Jatti		INC	3 years, 302 days	3 years, 302 days
8	Veerendra Patil		INC / INC(O)	2 years, 293 days	3 years, 242 days
9	J. H. Patel		JD	3 years, 133 days	3 years, 133 days
10	R. Gundu Rao		INC	2 years, 363 days	2 years, 363 days
11	H. D. Kumaraswamy		JD(S)	1 year, 247 days	2 years, 311 days
12	Sarekoppa Bangarappa		INC	2 years, 33 days	2 years, 33 days
13	Veerappa Moily		INC	2 years, 22 days	2 years, 22 days
14	Basavaraj Bommai		BJP	1 year, 296 days	1 year, 296 days
15	Dharam Singh		INC	1 year, 251 days	1 year, 251 days
16	H. D. Deve Gowda		JD	1 year, 172 days	1 year, 172 days
17	Sadananda Gowda		BJP	342 days	342 days
18	Jagadish Shettar		BJP	305 days	305 days
19	S. R. Bommai		JP	251 days	251 days
20	S. R. Kanthi		INC	99 days	99 days
21	D. K. Shivakumar		INC
—	President's Rule		—	1 year, 1 day	2 years, 121 days

By political party

Span by political party (as of 1 January 2026)
Political party	Number of chief ministers	Total years of holding CMO
Indian National Congress including INC(I) / INC(O) / INC(R)	11	46 years, 251 days
Bharatiya Janata Party	4	8 years, 295 days
Janata Dal	2	4 years, 305 days
Janata Party	2	6 years, 132 days
Janata Dal (Secular)	1	2 years, 311 days

== Oath == Swearing in the name of God: "____ emba hesarina naanu, Ishwarana hesarinalli pramana maaduttane endare, ____ raajyada mukhyamantriyaagi nanna aalochanege taralaaguva athava nanage tiliyabaruva yaavude vishayavannu, raajyada mukhyamantriyaagi nanna kartavyagalannu yogyavaagi nirvahisalu dharshisabahudadaagi dharshisuvudannu bittu, bere yaavude vyakthi athava vyakthigalige pratyakshavaagi athava aparatyakshavaagi tiliyapadisuvudilla athava bahiranga golisuvudilla." Solemn Affirmation (Non-religious): "____ emba hesarina naanu, gambheeravaagi pratijne maaduttane endare, ____ raajyada mukhyamantriyaagi nanna aalochanege taralaaguva athava nanage tiliyabaruva yaavude vishayavannu, raajyada mukhyamantriyaagi nanna kartavyagalannu yogyavaagi nirvahisalu dharshisabahudadaagi dharshisuvudannu bittu, bere yaavude vyakthi athava vyakthigalige pratyakshavaagi athava aparatyakshavaagi tiliyapadisuvudilla athava bahiranga golisuvudilla." 2. Chief Minister (CM) - Oath of Office (Adhikaara Sweekara Pramana Vachana) Since the CM always takes this right before the secrecy oath, it's helpful to have it handy: Swearing in the name of God: "____ emba hesarina naanu, Ishwarana hesarinalli pramana maaduttane endare, kaanunina moolaka sthapitavada bhaarata samvidhaanada bagege nija vaada shraddhe mattu nishthaiyannu hondiruttane endare, bhaarata sarvabhoumatva mattu akhandatethaiyannu samarthisuttane endare, mattu ____ raajyada mukhyamantriyaagi nanna kartavyagalannu nishthaiyinda mattu anta:karanadi nirvahisuttane endare, yaavude bhaya athava pakshapaata, raga athava dwesha illade, samvidhaana mattu kaanunige anusaaravaagi ella bageya janarige nyaayavannu odagisuttane."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."

Parties by total duration (in years) of holding Chief Minister's Office

10

20

30

40

50

INC

BJP

JD

JP

JD(S)

INC
BJP
JD
JP
JD(S)

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c 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.
^ On 1 November 1956, the Indian states were reorganised along linguistic lines. The Mysore State was expanded with the addition of the Kannada-speaking districts of Bombay, Hyderabad, and Madras states, and the entirety of Coorg.^[7]
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f President's rule may be imposed when the "government in a state is not able to function as per the Constitution", which often happens because no party or coalition has a majority in the assembly. When President's_rule#Karnataka
^ ^a ^b On 1 November 1973, Mysore State was renamed as Karnataka.^[7] Devaraj Urs, who was the chief minister of Mysore state since 20 March 1972, continued as chief minister of Karnataka post the renaming.
^ According to Frontline, following the poor performance of the Janata Party in the 1984 Indian general election (it won only four out of the 28 seats), Hegde resigned because his party had lost its popular mandate. He headed a caretaker government till the next elections. In the 1985 Karnataka assembly election, the Janata Party came to power with a comfortable majority."^[8]
^ According to Frontline, Hegde resigned in February 1986 when the Karnataka High Court censured his government for the way it handled arrack bottling contracts.^[8] He withdrew his resignation after a couple of days, "following pressure from his party legislators".^[9]

References

^ ^a ^b Durga Das Basu (1960). Introduction to the Constitution of India (20 ed.). LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa. pp. 241–245. ISBN 978-81-8038-559-9. Although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Karnataka as well. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^ "Leader of the House". Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
^ Sadasivan, S. N. (2005). Political and administrative integration of princely states By S. N. Sadasivan. Mittal Publications. p. 26. ISBN 978-8-17099-968-3.
^ ^a ^b ^c Chief Ministers of Karnataka since 1947. Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Archived on 6 December 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c Assemblies from 1952. Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Archived on 6 December 2016.
^ Ramaswamy, Harish (1 June 2007). Karnataka Government and Politics. Concept Publishing Company. p. 383. ISBN 978-8-18069-397-7.
^ ^a ^b ^c M. S. Prabhakara (24 July 2007). "New names for old". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 June 2009.
^ ^a ^b Parvathi Menon (31 January 2004). "A politician with elan: Ramakrishna Hegde, 1926–2004". Frontline. Vol. 21, no. 3.
^ A. Jayaram. (13 January 2004). "Pillar of anti-Congress movement". The Hindu.

[Party-6] 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.

[9] On 1 November 1956, the Indian states were reorganised along linguistic lines. The Mysore State was expanded with the addition of the Kannada-speaking districts of Bombay, Hyderabad, and Madras states, and the entirety of Coorg.^[7]

[PR-10] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f President's rule may be imposed when the "government in a state is not able to function as per the Constitution", which often happens because no party or coalition has a majority in the assembly. When President's_rule#Karnataka

[Devaraj-11] On 1 November 1973, Mysore State was renamed as Karnataka.^[7] Devaraj Urs, who was the chief minister of Mysore state since 20 March 1972, continued as chief minister of Karnataka post the renaming.

[13] According to Frontline, following the poor performance of the Janata Party in the 1984 Indian general election (it won only four out of the 28 seats), Hegde resigned because his party had lost its popular mandate. He headed a caretaker government till the next elections. In the 1985 Karnataka assembly election, the Janata Party came to power with a comfortable majority."^[8]

[15] According to Frontline, Hegde resigned in February 1986 when the Karnataka High Court censured his government for the way it handled arrack bottling contracts.^[8] He withdrew his resignation after a couple of days, "following pressure from his party legislators".^[9]

[term1-1] Durga Das Basu (1960). Introduction to the Constitution of India (20 ed.). LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa. pp. 241–245. ISBN 978-81-8038-559-9. Although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Karnataka as well. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

[2] "Leader of the House". Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Retrieved 1 June 2025.

[3] Sadasivan, S. N. (2005). Political and administrative integration of princely states By S. N. Sadasivan. Mittal Publications. p. 26. ISBN 978-8-17099-968-3.

[:03-4] Chief Ministers of Karnataka since 1947. Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Archived on 6 December 2016.

[:13-5] Assemblies from 1952. Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Archived on 6 December 2016.

[7] Ramaswamy, Harish (1 June 2007). Karnataka Government and Politics. Concept Publishing Company. p. 383. ISBN 978-8-18069-397-7.

[Rename-8] M. S. Prabhakara (24 July 2007). "New names for old". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 June 2009.

[FL-12] Parvathi Menon (31 January 2004). "A politician with elan: Ramakrishna Hegde, 1926–2004". Frontline. Vol. 21, no. 3.

[14] A. Jayaram. (13 January 2004). "Pillar of anti-Congress movement". The Hindu.

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v t e Chief ministers of Karnataka
Mysore	K. Chengalaraya Reddy K. Hanumanthaiah K. Manjappa S. Nijalingappa B. D. Jatti S. R. Kanthi Veerendra Patil D. Devaraj Urs
Karnataka	D. Devaraj Urs R. Gundu Rao Ramakrishna Hegde S. R. Bommai S. Bangarappa Veerappa Moily H. D. Deve Gowda J. H. Patel S. M. Krishna Dharam Singh H. D. Kumaraswamy B. S. Yeddyurappa D. V. Sadananda Gowda Jagadish Shettar Siddaramaiah (incumbent) Basavaraj Bommai
Coorg	C. M. Poonacha

Chief Minister of Karnataka
Karnāṭakada Mukhyamantri
Emblem of Karnataka
Flag of India
Incumbent D. K. Shivakumar (Designate) since 03 June 2026
Chief Minister's Office Government of Karnataka
Style	The Honourable
Type	Leader of the Executive
Status	Head of government
Member of	State Cabinet State Legislature
Reports to	Governor of Karnataka Karnataka Legislature
Residence	Anugraha, Bangalore
Seat	Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru
Nominator	MLAs of the majority party of alliance
Appointer	Governor of Karnataka by convention based on appointees ability to command confidence in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly
Term length	At the confidence of the assembly Chief minister's term is for 5 years and is subject to no term limits.^[1]
Precursor	Dewan of Mysore
Inaugural holder	K. Chengalaraya Reddy (as the chief minister of Mysore; before state's reorganization) S. Nijalingappa (as the chief minister of Mysore; after state's reorganization) D. Devaraj Urs (as the chief minister of Karnataka)
Formation	1 November 1956 (69 years ago) (1956-11-01)
Deputy	Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka
Salary	₹200,000 (US$2,100)/monthly ₹2,400,000 (US$25,000)/annually
Website	cm.karnataka.gov.in