List of chief ministers of Karnataka

The chief minister of Karnataka is the chief executive officer of the 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]

Chief Minister of Karnataka
ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿ
Emblem of Karnataka
Incumbent Siddaramaiah since 20 May 2023
Government of Karnataka
Style	The Honourable (Formal) Mr./Mrs. Chief Minister (Informal)
Type	Head of Government
Status	Leader of the Executive
Abbreviation	CM
Member of	Cabinet Karnataka Legislature
Reports to	Governor of Karnataka Karnataka Legislature
Residence	Anugraha, Bangalore
Seat	Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru
Nominator	Members of the Government of Karnataka in Karnataka Legislative Assembly
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 (68 years ago) (1956-11-01)
Deputy	Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka
Salary	₹200,000 (US$2,400)/monthly ₹2,400,000 (US$28,000)/annually
Website	cm.karnataka.gov.in

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. C. Reddy. The longest-serving chief minister, D. Devaraj Urs, held the office for over seven years in the 1970s. INC's Veerendra Patil had the largest gap between two terms (over eighteen years). One chief minister, H. D. Deve Gowda, went on to become the eleventh prime minister of India, whereas another, B. D. Jatti, served as the country's fifth vice president. 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 HD Deve Gowda and HD Kumaraswamy. There have been six instances of president's rule in Karnataka, most recently from 2007 to 2008.

Predecessors

Diwan of Mysore

The following lists the dalvoys and dewans of Mysore from the 18th century to the 20th.

Prime ministers of Mysore State

#[a]	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Term[2] (tenure length)			Assembly[3] (election)	Party[b]
1		K. Chengalaraya Reddy	N/A	25 October 1947	26 January 1950	2 years, 93 days	Not established yet	Indian National Congress

Chief ministers of Mysore State

#[c]	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Term[2] (tenure length)			Assembly[3] (election)	Party[d]
1		K. Chengalaraya Reddy	N/A	26 January 1950	30 March 1952	2 years, 64 days	Not established yet	Indian National Congress
2		Kengal Hanumanthaiah	Ramanagara	30 March 1952	19 August 1956	4 years, 142 days	1st (1952 election) continued...
3		Kadidal Manjappa	Tirthahalli	19 August 1956	31 October 1956	73 days

Chief Minister of Coorg State

#[e]	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Term[2] (tenure length)			Assembly (election)	Party[f]
1		C. M. Poonacha	Berriath Nad	27 March 1952	31 October 1956	4 years, 218 days	1st (1952)	Indian National Congress

Chief ministers of Karnataka

#[g]	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Term[2]			Assembly[3] (election)	Party[h]
Chief Minister of Mysore (following the state's reorganization)[i]
4		S. Nijalingappa	Molakalmuru	1 November 1956	16 May 1958	1 year, 197 days	...continued 1st (1952)	Indian National Congress
							2nd (1957)
5		B. D. Jatti	Jamkhandi	16 May 1958	14 March 1962	3 years, 302 days
6		S. R. Kanthi	Hungud	14 March 1962	21 June 1962	99 days	3rd (1962)
(4)		S. Nijalingappa	Shiggaon	21 June 1962	29 May 1968	5 years, 343 days
			Bagalkot[5]				4th (1967)
7		Veerendra Patil	Chincholi	29 May 1968	18 March 1971	2 years, 293 days		Indian National Congress (O)
–		Vacant[j] (President's rule)	N/A	19 March 1971	20 March 1972	1 year, 1 day	Dissolved	N/A
8		D. Devaraj Urs	Hunasuru	20 March 1972	31 October 1973	1 year, 225 days	5th (1972)	Indian National Congress (R)
Chief Minister of Karnataka[k]
(8)		D. Devaraj Urs	Hunasuru	1 November 1973	31 December 1977	4 years, 60 days	...continued 5th (1972)	Indian National Congress (R)
–		Vacant[j] (President's rule)	N/A	31 December 1977	28 February 1978	59 days	Dissolved	N/A
(8)		D. Devaraj Urs	Hunasuru	28 February 1978	12 January 1980	1 year, 318 days	6th (1978)	Indian National Congress (I)
9		R. Gundu Rao	Somwarpet	12 January 1980	10 January 1983	2 years, 363 days
10		Ramakrishna Hegde	Kanakpura	10 January 1983	7 March 1985[l]	5 years, 216 days	7th (1983)	Janata Party
			Basavanagudi	8 March 1985	13 August 1988[m]		8th (1985)
11		S. R. Bommai	Hubli Rural	13 August 1988	21 April 1989	281 days
–		Vacant[j] (President's rule)	N/A	21 April 1989	30 November 1989	193 days	Dissolved	N/A
(7)		Veerendra Patil	Chincholi	30 November 1989	10 October 1990	314 days	9th (1989)	Indian National Congress
–		Vacant[j] (President's rule)	N/A	10 October 1990	17 October 1990	7 days		N/A
12		Sarekoppa Bangarappa	Soraba	17 October 1990	19 November 1992	2 years, 33 days		Indian National Congress
13		Veerappa Moily	Karkala	19 November 1992	11 December 1994	2 years, 22 days
14		H. D. Deve Gowda	Ramanagara	11 December 1994	31 May 1996	1 year, 172 days	10th (1994)	Janata Dal
15		J. H. Patel	Channagiri	31 May 1996	11 October 1999	3 years, 133 days
16		S. M. Krishna	Maddur	11 October 1999	28 May 2004	4 years, 230 days	11th (1999)	Indian National Congress
17		Dharam Singh	Jevargi	28 May 2004	3 February 2006	1 year, 251 days	12th (2004)
18		H. D. Kumaraswamy	Ramanagara	3 February 2006	8 October 2007	1 year, 247 days		Janata Dal (Secular)
–		Vacant[j] (President's rule)	N/A	8 October 2007	12 November 2007	35 days		N/A
19		B. S. Yediyurappa	Shikaripura	12 November 2007	19 November 2007	7 days		Bharatiya Janata Party
–		Vacant[j] (President's rule)	N/A	20 November 2007	29 May 2008	191 days	Dissolved	N/A
(19)		B. S. Yediyurappa	Shikaripura	30 May 2008	5 August 2011	3 years, 67 days	13th (2008)	Bharatiya Janata Party
20		Sadananda Gowda	MLC	5 August 2011	12 July 2012	342 days
21		Jagadish Shettar	Hubli-Dharwad-Central	12 July 2012	13 May 2013	305 days
22		Siddaramaiah	Varuna	13 May 2013	17 May 2018	5 years, 4 days	14th (2013)	Indian National Congress
(19)		B. S. Yediyurappa	Shikaripura	17 May 2018	23 May 2018	6 days	15th (2018)	Bharatiya Janata Party
(18)		H. D. Kumaraswamy	Channapatna	23 May 2018	26 July 2019	1 year, 64 days		Janata Dal (Secular)
(19)		B. S. Yediyurappa	Shikaripura	26 July 2019	28 July 2021	2 years, 2 days		Bharatiya Janata Party
23		Basavaraj Bommai	Shiggaon	28 July 2021	20 May 2023	1 year, 296 days
(22)		Siddaramaiah	Varuna	20 May 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 357 days	16th (2023)	Indian National Congress

Statistics

Fraction of time of holding CMO by party (as of December 2024)

1. Indian National Congress (65.77%)
2. Bharatiya Janata Party (13.19%)
3. Janata Dal (7.24%)
4. Janata Party (9.53%)
5. Janata Dal (Secular) (4.27%)

No.	Name	Party		Length of term
				Longest continuous term	Total years of premiership
1	D. Devaraj Urs		INC(I) / INC(R)	5 years, 285 days	7 years, 238 days
2	S. Nijalingappa		INC	5 years, 343 days	7 years, 175 days
3	Siddaramaiah		INC	5 years, 4 days	6 years, 361 days
4	Ramakrishna Hegde		JP	3 years, 150 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(O)	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	281 days	281 days
20	S. R. Kanthi		INC	99 days	99 days
–	President's Rule		–	1 year, 1 day	2 years, 121 days

List by party

Political parties by total time-span of their member holding CMO (12 May 2025)

No.	Political party	Number of chief ministers	Total years of holding CMO
1	Indian National Congress including INC(I) / INC(O) / INC(R)	11	43 years, 335 days
2	Bharatiya Janata Party	4	8 years, 295 days
3	Janata Dal	2	4 years, 305 days
4	Janata Party	2	6 years, 132 days
5	Janata Dal (Secular)	1	2 years, 311 days

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)

See also

• Dewan of Mysore
• List of Diwans of Mysore
• List of deputy chief ministers of Karnataka

Notes

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. A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
4. 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.
5. 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 headed may have been 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.
8. 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, via the States Reorganisation Act, Mysore State was significantly expanded along linguistic lines. The Kannada-speaking districts of Bombay, Hyderabad and Madras states, as well as the entirety of Coorg, were added to it.^[4]
10. 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
11. On 1 November 1973, via the Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Act, Mysore State was renamed as Karnataka.^[4] Thus, Devaraj Urs was Chief Minister of Mysore between 20 March 1972 and 31 October 1973, and Chief Minister of Karnataka after that.
12. According to Frontline magazine, "Following the poor performance of the Janata Party in the 1984 [general] elections (it won only four out of the 28 seats), Hegde resigned because his party had lost its popular mandate. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi allowed him to head a caretaker government. In the 1985 [assembly] elections, the Janata Party came to power with a comfortable majority."^[6]
13. According to Frontline, Hegde resigned "in February 1986 when the Karnataka High Court censured his government for the way it handled arrack bottling contracts".^[6] He withdrew his resignation after a couple of days, "following pressure from his party legislators".^[7]