The Chief Minister of Karnataka is the head of government of the Indian state of Karnataka. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is the state's de jure head, while the de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, the state's 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. Usually, the chief minister also serves as leader of the house in the legislative assembly.
The office traces its lineage to the dewan of Mysuru, the chief minister of the princely Kingdom of Mysore under the British Raj. After Indian independence in 1947, this became the office of prime minister of Mysuru State, which was in turn redesignated chief minister when Mysuru became a constituent state of the newly declared Republic of India in 1950. The state, expanded along linguistic lines in 1956, was renamed Karnataka in 1973, and the office has been styled Chief Minister of Karnataka ever since. Since 1947, twenty-one people have held the position, an overwhelming majority of them from the Indian National Congress (INC), which has supplied twelve of the twenty-one officeholders and accounted for the bulk of the office's cumulative tenure. INC's dominance was broken only intermittently: by Ramakrishna Hegde of the Janata Party in 1983, the first chief minister unaffiliated with Congress or its breakaway factions; by two terms of Janata Dal-descended governments in the 1990s and 2000s, including the Janata Dal (Secular) premierships of Deve Gowda and HD Kumaraswamy; and, from 2007 onward, by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose B. S. Yediyurappa became Karnataka's first BJP chief minister and, across four separate terms, the only person to hold the office that many times.
Tenures have varied widely in length and stability. Siddaramaiah holds the record for the longest single stint, at eight years and eighteen days across two terms, while Veerendra Patil had the longest gap between his two periods in office, at over eighteen years. The state has also seen recurring interruptions: six spells of President's rule, most recently from November 2007 to May 2008, during which the office fell vacant and administration passed to the governor. Two father–son pairs have held the post — Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy of the JD(S), and S. R. Bommai and his son Basavaraj Bommai of the BJP — and two former chief ministers went on to higher national office: B. D. Jatti, chief minister from 1958 to 1962, later became India's fifth Vice President in 1974, while Deve Gowda became the eleventh Prime Minister in 1996. D. K. Shivakumar became the twenty-first and incumbent chief minister on 3 June 2026, succeeding Siddaramaiah.
Predecessors Prime ministers of Mysore State The Princely state of Kingdom of Mysuru, which existed during the British Raj, was organised into Mysuru state after the Indian Independence in 1947.
#PortraitNameConstituencyTermChief Ministers of Karnataka since 1947. Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Archived on 6 December 2016.AssemblyAssemblies from 1952. Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Archived on 6 December 2016.Party1K. Chengalaraya Reddy (1902 – 1976)N/A25 October 194726 January 1950Not established yetIndian 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.
#PortraitNameConstituencyTermAssemblyParty1K. Chengalaraya Reddy (1902 – 1976)N/A26 January 195030 March 1952Not established yetIndian National Congress2Kengal Hanumanthaiah (1908 – 1980)Ramanagara30 March 195219 August 19561st(1952 election)3Kadidal Manjappa (1908 – 1992)Tirthahalli19 August 195631 October 1956
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, Mysuru State was expanded with the inclusion of the Kannada-speaking districts of Bombay, Hyderabad and Madras States, and the entirety of Coorg. On 1 November 1973, Mysuru State was renamed as Karnataka via the Mysuru State (Alteration of Name) Act.
Colour key
#PortraitNameConstituencyTermAssemblyPartyChief Minister of Mysore (1956-1973)1S. Nijalingappa (1902 – 2000)Molakalmuru31 October 195616 May 1958 1stIndian National Congress2nd2B. D. Jatti (1912 – 2002)Jamkhandi16 May 195814 March 19623S. R. Kanthi (1908 – 1969)Hungund14 March 196221 June 19623rd(1)S. Nijalingappa (1902 – 2000)Shiggaon21 June 196229 May 1968Bagalkot4th4 Veerendra Patil (1924 – 1997)Chincholi29 May 196818 March 1971Indian National Congress (O)Vacant (President's rule)N/A18 March 197120 March 1972DissolvedN/A5 D. Devaraj Urs (1915 – 1982)Hunasuru20 March 197231 October 19735thIndian National Congress (R)Chief Minister of Karnataka (1973-present)1D. Devaraj Urs (1915 – 1982)Hunasuru1 November 197331 December 19775thIndian National Congress (I)Vacant (President's rule)N/A31 December 197728 February 1978DissolvedN/A(1)D. Devaraj Urs (1915 – 1982)Hunasuru28 February 197812 January 19806thIndian National Congress (I)2R. Gundu Rao (1937 – 1993)Somwarpet12 January 198010 January 19833 Ramakrishna Hegde (1926 – 2004)Kanakapura10 January 19837 March 19857thJanata PartyBasavanagudi8 March 198513 August 19888th4S. R. Bommai (1924 – 2007)Hubli Rural13 August 198821 April 1989Vacant (President's rule)N/A21 April 198930 November 1989DissolvedN/A5 Veerendra Patil (1924 – 1997)Chincholi30 November 198910 October 19909thIndian National Congress (I)Vacant (President's rule)N/A10 October 199017 October 1990N/A6Sarekoppa Bangarappa (1933 – 2011)Soraba17 October 199019 November 1992Indian National Congress (I)7Veerappa Moily (born 1940)Karkala19 November 199211 December 19948H. D. Deve Gowda (born 1933)Ramanagara11 December 199431 May 199610thJanata Dal9J. H. Patel (1930 – 2000)Channagiri31 May 199611 October 199910S. M. Krishna (1932 – 2024)Maddur11 October 199928 May 200411thIndian National Congress11Dharam Singh (1936 – 2017)Jevargi28 May 20043 February 200612th12H. D. Kumaraswamy (born 1959)Ramanagara3 February 20068 October 2007Janata Dal (Secular)Vacant (President's rule)N/A8 October 200712 November 2007N/A13B. S. Yediyurappa (born 1943)Shikaripura12 November 200719 November 2007Bharatiya Janata PartyVacant (President's rule)N/A19 November 200729 May 2008DissolvedN/A(13)B. S. Yediyurappa (born 1943)Shikaripura30 May 20085 August 201113thBharatiya Janata Party14Sadananda Gowda (born 1953)MLC5 August 201112 July 201215Jagadish Shettar (born 1955)Hubli-Dharwad Central12 July 201213 May 201316Siddaramaiah (born 1947)Varuna13 May 201317 May 201814thIndian National Congress(13)B. S. Yediyurappa (born 1943)Shikaripura17 May 201823 May 201815thBharatiya Janata Party(12)H. D. Kumaraswamy (born 1959)Channapatna23 May 201826 July 2019Janata Dal (Secular)(13)B. S. Yediyurappa (born 1943)Shikaripura26 July 201928 July 2021Bharatiya Janata Party17Basavaraj Bommai (born 1960)Shiggaon28 July 202120 May 2023(16)Siddaramaiah (born 1947)Varuna20 May 20233 June 2026 16th Indian National Congress18D. K. Shivakumar (born 1962)Kanakapura3 June 2026Incumbent
Statistics
# Name Party Length of term Longest tenure Total tenure1Siddaramaiah INC 5 years, 4 days 8 years, 18 days2 D. Devaraj Urs INC / INC(R) 7 years, 239 days3 S. Nijalingappa INC 7 years, 175 days4 Ramakrishna Hegde JP 5 B. S. Yediyurappa BJP 5 years, 82 days6 S. M. Krishna INC 7 B. D. Jatti INC 8 Veerendra Patil INC / INC(O) 3 years, 242 days9 J. H. Patel JD 10 R. Gundu Rao INC 11 H. D. Kumaraswamy JD(S) 2 years, 311 days12 Sarekoppa Bangarappa INC 13 Veerappa Moily INC 14 Basavaraj Bommai BJP 15 Dharam Singh INC 16 H. D. Deve Gowda JD 17 Sadananda Gowda BJP 18 Jagadish Shettar BJP 19 S. R. Bommai JP 20 D. K. Shivakumar* INC 21 S. R. Kanthi INC — President's Rule — 1 year, 1 day2 years, 121 days
By political party +Span by political party (as of 12 September 2026) Political partyNumber of chief ministersTotal years of holding CMOIndian National Congress including INC(I) / INC(O) / INC(R)1244 years, 258 daysBharatiya Janata Party48 years, 296 daysJanata Party26 years, 103 daysJanata Dal24 years, 305 daysJanata Dal (Secular)12 years, 311 daysPresident's Rule62 years, 155 days
Parties by total duration (in years) of holding Chief Minister's Office
See also Dewan of Mysore List of Diwans of Mysore List of deputy chief ministers of Karnataka
Notes
References