Chief Minister of Sikkim

The chief minister of Sikkim is the popularly elected politician that heads the executive of the Government of Sikkim, the subnational authority of the Indian state of Sikkim. The chief minister acts as the head of government in the state, has formal presidency over the Council of Ministers and governs with the confidence of a majority in the elected Sikkim Legislative Assembly.

Following elections to the Sikkim Legislative Assembly, the governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. As such, the chief minister typically sits as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and leads the largest party or a coalition of parties. 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. Since 1974, Sikkim has had five chief ministers. The first was Kazi Lhendup Dorjee of the Indian National Congress. Pawan Kumar Chamling of the Sikkim Democratic Front was the longest serving chief minister of Sikkim from 1994 to 2019. He occupied the office longer than all his predecessors put together and currently holds the record for longest serving CM in India. The 24 year old rule of Pawan Kumar Chamling ended in the 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections where Sikkim Krantikari Morcha emerged victorious. Prem Singh Tamang became chief minister on 27 May 2019.

List of officeholders

No	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Term of office			Elections	Party
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
1	File:Kazi Lhendup Dorjee .jpg	Kazi Lhendup Dorjee	Tashiding	16 May 1975	17 August 1979	Template:Ayd	1974	Sikkim National Congress	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |
								Indian National Congress	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |
–	File:Emblem of India.svg	VacantTemplate:Efn (President's rule)	N/A	18 August 1979	17 October 1979	Template:Ayd	-	N/A
2		Nar Bahadur Bhandari	Soreong	18 October 1979	11 May 1984	Template:Ayd	1979	Sikkim Janata Parishad
3		Bhim Bahadur Gurung	Jorthang-Nayabazar	11 May 1984	25 May 1984	Template:Ayd		Indian National Congress	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |
–	File:Emblem of India.svg	VacantTemplate:Efn (President's rule)	N/A	25 May 1984	8 March 1985	Template:Ayd	-	N/A
(2)		Nar Bahadur Bhandari	Soreong	8 March 1985	25 November 1989	Template:Ayd	1985	Sikkim Sangram Parishad	rowspan=3 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |
				26 November 1989	17 May 1994		1989
4		Sanchaman Limboo		18 May 1994	12 December 1994	Template:Ayd
5	File:PawanKumarChamling.jpg	Pawan Kumar Chamling	Damthang	13 December 1994	10 October 1999	Template:Ayd	1994	Sikkim Democratic Front	rowspan=5 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |
				11 October 1999	21 May 2004		1999
				21 May 2004	20 May 2009		2004
			Poklok-Kamrang	20 May 2009	21 May 2014		2009
			Namchi-Singhithang	21 May 2014	27 May 2019		2014
6	File:Prem Singh Tamang.jpg	Prem Singh Tamang	Poklok-Kamrang	27 May 2019	10 June 2024	Template:Ayd	2019	Sikkim Krantikari Morcha	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |
			Rhenock	10 June 2024	Incumbent		2024

Statistics

#	Chief Minister	Party		Term of office
				Longest continuous term	Total duration of chief ministership
1	Pawan Kumar Chamling	Template:Party name with color	24 years, 165 days	24 years, 165 days
2	Nar Bahadur Bhandari	Template:Party name with color/SSP	9 years, 70 days	13 years, 276 days
3	Prem Singh Tamang*	Template:Party name with color*	Template:Ayd*	Template:Ayd*
4	Kazi Lhendup Dorjee	Template:Party name with color/INC	4 years, 93 days	4 years, 93 days
5	Sanchaman Limboo	Template:Party name with color	208 days	208 days
6	Bhim Bahadur Gurung	Template:Party name with color	14 days	14 days

Timeline

<timeline> ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:300 left:15 AlignBars = late

Colors =

 id:inc    value:rgb(0,0.748,1) legend: INC
 id:snc    value:rgb(0,0.496,1) legend: SNC
 id:sjp    value:rgb(0,0.5,0) legend: SJP
 id:ssp    value:rgb(0.398,0.199,0) legend: SSP
 id:sdf    value:rgb(0.996,0.984,0.02) legend: SDF
 id:skm    value:rgb(0.925,0.117,0.148) legend: SKM
 id:gray1  value:gray(0.8)
 id:gray2  value:gray(0.9)

Define $today = 07/05/2026

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1974 till:$today TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMinor = gridcolor:gray2 unit:year increment:1 start:1974 ScaleMajor = gridcolor:gray1 unit:year increment:5 start:1974

Legend = columns:4 left:150 top:24 columnwidth:150

TextData =

 pos:(20,27) textcolor:black fontsize:M
 text: Political Party

BarData =

 bar:Dorjee
 bar:Bhandari
 bar:Gurung
 bar:Limboo
 bar:Chamling
 bar:Tamang

PlotData =

 width:5 align:Left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

 bar:Dorjee
from: 16/05/1974 till: 17/08/1979 color:snc text:"Kazi Lhendup Dorjee" fontsize:10
 bar:Bhandari
from: 18/12/1979 till: 11/05/1984 color:sjp
from: 08/03/1985 till: 17/05/1994 color:ssp text:"Nar Bahadur Bhandari" fontsize:10
 bar:Gurung
from: 11/05/1984 till: 25/05/1984 color:inc text:"Bhim Bahadur Gurung" fontsize:10
 bar:Limboo
from: 18/05/1994 till: 12/12/1994 color:ssp text:"Sanchaman Limboo" fontsize:10
 bar:Chamling
from: 13/12/1994 till: 27/05/2019 color:sdf text:"Pawan Kumar Chamling" fontsize:10
 bar:Tamang
from: 27/05/2019 till: $today color:skm text:"Prem Singh Tamang" fontsize:10

</timeline>

External links

• List on worldstatesmen.org