List of chief ministers of Kerala

Chief Minister of Kerala
Chief Minister of Kerala
Kēraḷa Mukhyamantri ; കേരളത്തിന്റെ മുഖ്യമന്ത്രി
	Emblem of Kerala
	File:Pinarayi Vijayan cm.jpgIncumbent; Pinarayi Vijayan; since 25 May 2016
	Chief Minister's Office
Style	The Honourable (Formal); Mr./Mrs. Chief Minister (Informal)
Status	Head of Government
Abbreviation	CM
Member of	Cabinet; Kerala Legislative Assembly;
Residence	Cliff House, Thiruvananthapuram
Seat	Kerala Government Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram
Appointer	Governor of Kerala
Term length	At the Pleasure of the Governor of Kerala
Precursor	Prime Minister of Travancore; Prime Minister of Kingdom of Cochin; Chief Minister of Madras; Chief Ministers of Travancore-Cochin
Inaugural holder	E. M. S. Namboodiripad (1957–1959)
Formation	5 April 1957; 67 years ago
Salary	₹185,000 (US$2,300)/monthly; ₹2,220,000 (US$28,000)/annually;
Website	CMO Kerala

The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Kerala Legislative Assembly, the state's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. 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.^[2]

Following India's independence from the British Raj in 1947, the states' monarchs of Travancore and Cochin instituted a measure of representative government, headed by a prime minister and his council of ministers. On 1 July 1949 Travancore and Cochin were merged to form Travancore-Cochin state. The Malabar District and Kasaragod region of South Canara, which together constitute more than half of present state of Kerala, had their representatives in the Madras Legislative Assembly.

On 1 November 1956, the States Reorganisation Act redrew India's map along linguistic lines, and the present-day state of Kerala was born, consisting solely of Malayalam-speaking regions, by merging Cochin, Malabar, and Travancore regions, and the Kasaragod region of South Canara.^[3] The first assembly election in Kerala state was held in February–March 1957.^[3] The first Kerala Legislative Assembly was formed on 5 April 1957. The Assembly had 127 members including a nominated member.^[3] Since then, 12 people have served as the chief minister of Kerala. The first was E. M. S. Namboodiripad of the Communist Party of India, whose tenure was cut short by the imposition of President's rule. Kerala has come under President's rule for four years over seven terms, the last of them in 1982. Since then the office has alternated between leaders of the Indian National Congress and of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). E. K. Nayanar is the longest serving holder of the office for a total of 10 years, 353 days. Pinarayi Vijayan is the incumbent chief minister; his Left Democratic Front government has been in office since 25 May 2016.

Key

Communist Party of India

Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Indian National Congress

Indian Union Muslim League

Praja Socialist Party

N/A (President's rule)

№: Incumbent number
^† Assassinated or died in office
^§ Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term
^RES Resigned
^NC Resigned following a no-confidence motion

Precursors

Prime ministers of Travancore (1948–49)

No.^[a]	Name	Portrait	Term of Office			Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Monarch)
No.^[a]	Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Tenure	Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Monarch)
1	Pattom Thanu Pillai		24 March 1948	17 October 1948	210 days	Indian National Congress	Representative Body (1948–49)	Sir Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, Maharaja of Travancore
2	Paravoor T. K. Narayana Pillai		22 October 1948	1 July 1949	253 days	Indian National Congress	Representative Body (1948–49)

Prime ministers of Cochin (1947–1949)

No.^[b]	Name	Portrait	Term of Office			Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Monarch)
No.^[b]	Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Tenure	Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Monarch)
1	Panampilly Govinda Menon		14 August 1947	22 October 1947	51 days	Independent	Sixth Council (1945–48)	Kerala Varma VII, Maharaja of Cochin
2	T. K. Nair		27 October 1947	20 September 1948	334 days		Sixth Council (1945–48)
3	E. Ikkanda Warrier		20 September 1948	30 June 1949	283 days		Legislative Assembly (1948–49)

Chief ministers of Travancore-Cochin (1949–1956)

After India's independence in 1947, Travancore and Cochin were merged to form Travancore-Cochin on 1 July 1949. On 1 January 1950, Travancore-Cochin was recognised as a state.

No.^[c]	Name	Portrait	Term of Office			Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Rajpramukh)
No.^[c]	Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Tenure	Party	Assembly	Appointed by (Rajpramukh)
1	Paravoor T. K. Narayana Pillai		1 July 1949	1 March 1951	1 year, 243 days	Indian National Congress	1st Assembly (1949–51)	Sir Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, Maharaja of Travancore
2	C. Kesavan		3 March 1951	12 March 1952	1 year, 11 days		1st Assembly (1949–51)
3	Anaparambil Joseph John		12 March 1952	16 March 1954	2 years, 4 days		2nd Assembly (1952–53) (1951 election)
4	Pattom Thanu Pillai		16 March 1954	10 February 1955	331 days	Praja Socialist Party	3rd Assembly (1954–56) (1954 election)
5	Panampilly Govinda Menon		10 February 1955	23 March 1956	1 year, 42 days	Indian National Congress	3rd Assembly (1954–56) (1954 election)
–	Vacant^[d] (President's rule)		23 March 1956	31 October 1956	222 days	N/A	Dissolved	N/A