Seven people have served as the state's chief minister since Jharkhand's formation on 15 November 2000.[2] Half of them, including the inaugural officeholder Babulal Marandi, represented the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). His successor Arjun Munda, also from the BJP, is the longest-serving chief minister; he served for over five years, across three terms but never completed a full term. Three chief ministers, Shibu Soren, his son Hemant Soren, and Champai Soren, represented the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). Shibu Soren's first term ended in just ten days, as he could not prove that he had the support of a majority of the house and was forced to resign. The state has also been governed by Madhu Koda, one of the few independents to become the chief minister of any state.[3] In between their reigns, the state has also been under President's rule three times. Raghubar Das, of the BJP, was the first non-tribal and first chief minister to complete a full term in the state. Hemant Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is the incumbent chief minister.
^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.
^The first Legislative Assembly of Jharkhand was constituted by the MLAs elected in the 2000 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, whose constituencies were in the newly formed Jharkhand.[2]
^ abcPresident'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 is in force in a state, its council of ministers stands dissolved. The office of chief minister thus lies vacant, and the administration is taken over by the governor, who functions on behalf of the central government. At times, the legislative assembly also stands dissolved.[5]
References
^ abBasu, Durga Das (1960). Introduction to the Constitution of India (20 ed.). Nagpur: LexisNexis Butterworths, Wadhwa. pp. 241, 245. ISBN978-81-8038-559-9.. Note: although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Jharkhand as well.
^ abChaudhuri, Kalyan (1 September 2000). "Jharkhand, at last". Frontline. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2019.