The Chief Minister of Goa is Pramod Sawant of the Bharatiya Janata Party, sworn in on 19 March 2019 after the death of Manohar Parrikar and returned to office on 28 March 2022 following that year’s assembly election. He is the thirteenth person to hold the post.
Thirteen individuals have been Chief Minister across roughly twenty-three separate spells, and the office has lain vacant under President’s Rule five times. The count starts in December 1963, when Goa was still a Union Territory, and continues through statehood in 1987 without a break in the office itself.
How the Office Works in Goa
Portuguese rule in Goa ended in December 1961, and the territory was organised as the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu. Its first assembly election was held in December 1963, and Dayanand Bandodkar took office as Chief Minister on 20 December 1963. A Union Territory with a legislature has a Chief Minister and a council of ministers much as a state does, so the office is the same office, and the standard listings maintained by the Goa government and by reference works run the sequence continuously from 1963 rather than restarting in 1987.
Statehood came on 30 May 1987, when Goa was separated from Daman and Diu and became India’s twenty-fifth state, with Daman and Diu continuing as a Union Territory. Pratapsingh Rane was Chief Minister on that day and simply carried on, which is why he is both a Union Territory Chief Minister and the first Chief Minister of the state of Goa. From 1987 the office runs on Article 164 in the ordinary way: the Governor appoints the Chief Minister, ministers are appointed on the Chief Minister’s advice, and the council of ministers is collectively responsible to the Goa Legislative Assembly. That house has 40 seats, sits at Porvorim, and gives a normal five-year term. With a house that small, a handful of members changing sides can bring down a government, which explains a great deal of what follows.
Complete List of Chief Ministers of Goa
| # | Name | Term Start | Term End | Party | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dayanand Bandodkar | 20 December 1963 | 2 December 1966 | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | First Chief Minister of the Union Territory |
| – | President’s Rule | 2 December 1966 | 5 April 1967 | — | The 1967 Opinion Poll was held during this spell |
| (1) | Dayanand Bandodkar | 5 April 1967 | 12 August 1973 | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | Died in office |
| 2 | Shashikala Kakodkar | 12 August 1973 | 27 April 1979 | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | Goa’s only woman Chief Minister; Bandodkar’s daughter |
| – | President’s Rule | 27 April 1979 | 16 January 1980 | — | Second spell |
| 3 | Pratapsingh Rane | 16 January 1980 | 30 May 1987 | Congress (U), later Indian National Congress | Union Territory period |
| (3) | Pratapsingh Rane | 30 May 1987 | 27 March 1990 | Indian National Congress | Continued in office as Goa became India’s 25th state |
| 4 | Churchill Alemao | 27 March 1990 | 14 April 1990 | Progressive Democratic Front | 18 days |
| 5 | Luis Proto Barbosa | 14 April 1990 | 14 December 1990 | Progressive Democratic Front | |
| – | President’s Rule | 14 December 1990 | 25 January 1991 | — | Third spell |
| 6 | Ravi Naik | 25 January 1991 | 18 May 1993 | Indian National Congress | |
| 7 | Wilfred de Souza | 18 May 1993 | 2 April 1994 | Indian National Congress | |
| (6) | Ravi Naik | 2 April 1994 | 8 April 1994 | Indian National Congress | Six days, the shortest spell on the list |
| (7) | Wilfred de Souza | 8 April 1994 | 16 December 1994 | Indian National Congress | |
| (3) | Pratapsingh Rane | 16 December 1994 | 29 July 1998 | Indian National Congress | |
| (7) | Wilfred de Souza | 29 July 1998 | 26 November 1998 | Goa Rajiv Congress Party | Third stint, under a breakaway party |
| 8 | Luizinho Faleiro | 26 November 1998 | 10 February 1999 | Indian National Congress | |
| – | President’s Rule | 10 February 1999 | 9 June 1999 | — | Fourth spell |
| (8) | Luizinho Faleiro | 9 June 1999 | 24 November 1999 | Indian National Congress | |
| 9 | Francisco Sardinha | 24 November 1999 | 24 October 2000 | Goa People’s Congress | |
| 10 | Manohar Parrikar | 24 October 2000 | 3 February 2005 | Bharatiya Janata Party | First BJP Chief Minister of Goa; re-sworn on 3 June 2002 |
| (3) | Pratapsingh Rane | 3 February 2005 | 4 March 2005 | Indian National Congress | |
| – | President’s Rule | 4 March 2005 | 7 June 2005 | — | Fifth and most recent spell |
| (3) | Pratapsingh Rane | 7 June 2005 | 8 June 2007 | Indian National Congress | Fourth and final stint |
| 11 | Digambar Kamat | 8 June 2007 | 9 March 2012 | Indian National Congress | |
| (10) | Manohar Parrikar | 9 March 2012 | 8 November 2014 | Bharatiya Janata Party | Left to become Union Defence Minister |
| 12 | Laxmikant Parsekar | 8 November 2014 | 14 March 2017 | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
| (10) | Manohar Parrikar | 14 March 2017 | 17 March 2019 | Bharatiya Janata Party | Returned from the Union cabinet; died in office |
| 13 | Pramod Sawant | 19 March 2019 | Incumbent | Bharatiya Janata Party | Re-sworn on 28 March 2022 after the 2022 election |
The shape of the list is unusual. Two long, stable stretches bracket a decade of near-permanent churn: Bandodkar and Kakodkar between them held the office for most of 1963 to 1979, and Rane held it without a break from January 1980 to March 1990. Between March 1990 and October 2000 the office changed hands eleven times and President’s Rule was imposed twice. Since 2000 the state has settled again, with only four people holding office in twenty-six years.
Longest-Serving and Most Notable Chief Ministers
Pratapsingh Rane is Goa’s longest-serving Chief Minister by a wide margin, with close to sixteen years in office across four separate stints between 1980 and 2007. He also holds the record for the longest unbroken run, about ten years and two months from 16 January 1980 to 27 March 1990, a stretch that carried Goa from Union Territory to statehood. Manohar Parrikar is second with roughly eight years and eleven months across three stints, and Pramod Sawant passed seven years in office in March 2026.
Dayanand Bandodkar was the first Chief Minister and the founding figure of Goan electoral politics, leading the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party to three wins before dying in office in August 1973. His daughter Shashikala Kakodkar succeeded him the same day and served nearly six years, and she remains the only woman to have led Goa. The other landmark of the Bandodkar era falls in the gap between his two terms: the Opinion Poll of 16 January 1967, held while the territory was under President’s Rule, in which Goans voted against merging with Maharashtra and settled the question of separate identity that eventually led to statehood.
Manohar Parrikar is the figure most associated with modern Goa. He became the state’s first BJP Chief Minister in 2000, returned in 2012, left in 2014 to serve as Union Defence Minister, and came back a third time in March 2017 to head a coalition after an inconclusive election. He died in office on 17 March 2019 after a long illness. Pramod Sawant, then Speaker of the assembly, was sworn in past midnight on 19 March 2019 with two deputy chief ministers drawn from the BJP’s allies, and he has since led the party to a fresh majority in 2022. Wilfred de Souza is the counterweight to all this stability, holding the office three times in five years in the 1990s, the last of them under a party he had just formed.
How Power Has Shifted: Party Trends in Goa
Goa’s party history divides into three phases. From 1963 to 1979 the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party governed almost continuously, drawing on the Bahujan communities of the interior talukas and, in its early years, on the case for merger with Maharashtra. From 1980 to 2000 the Congress dominated, though its dominance was ragged: many of the changes of Chief Minister in the 1990s were contests between Congress factions rather than defeats at the hands of an opposition. From 2000 the BJP has been the main pole of state politics, holding office for most of the last twenty-six years.
Smaller parties matter more here than in most states, because a 40-member house makes two or three legislators decisive. Splinter groups such as the Goa Rajiv Congress Party, the Goa People’s Congress and the Progressive Democratic Front each produced a Chief Minister, and none of them lasted long as parties.
| Party | Chief ministers supplied | Approximate time in office |
|---|---|---|
| Indian National Congress (including Congress (U)) | 6 | About 26 years |
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 3 | About 18 years 8 months |
| Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | 2 | About 15 years |
| Goa People’s Congress | 1 | About 11 months |
| Goa Rajiv Congress Party | 1 | About 4 months |
| Progressive Democratic Front | 2 | About 8 months |
| President’s Rule | — | About 1 year 9 months over five spells |
Records and Quick Facts
Shortest spell: Ravi Naik’s second stint, 2 to 8 April 1994, lasted six days. The shortest total time in office by any individual belongs to Churchill Alemao, 18 days in 1990.
Most stints: Pratapsingh Rane, four. Wilfred de Souza and Manohar Parrikar each held the office three times.
President’s Rule spells: five, in 1966-67, 1979-80, 1990-91, 1999 and 2005, together about a year and nine months. Only the 1966-67 and 1979-80 spells fell in the Union Territory period.
Only woman Chief Minister: Shashikala Kakodkar, 1973 to 1979.
Died in office: two, Dayanand Bandodkar in August 1973 and Manohar Parrikar in March 2019.
A note on numbering: listings differ on how to count Goa’s Chief Ministers. Some restart the numbering at statehood in 1987, which makes Pratapsingh Rane the first Chief Minister of Goa and produces a much shorter list. This page follows the continuous count from 1963, which is what the Goa government’s own record of past Chief Ministers uses, and under which Pramod Sawant is the thirteenth officeholder.
For similar state reference lists, see the pages on Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
FAQ
Who is the current Chief Minister of Goa? Pramod Sawant of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was sworn in on 19 March 2019 after Manohar Parrikar died in office, and took oath again on 28 March 2022 after the BJP won the assembly election.
Who was the first Chief Minister of Goa? Dayanand Bandodkar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, who took office on 20 December 1963 when Goa was a Union Territory. Pratapsingh Rane was the Chief Minister in office when Goa became a full state on 30 May 1987.
When did Goa become a state? On 30 May 1987, when the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu was split and Goa became India’s twenty-fifth state. Daman and Diu remained a Union Territory.
Who has served longest as Chief Minister of Goa? Pratapsingh Rane, with close to sixteen years across four stints between 1980 and 2007, including an unbroken run of about ten years from 1980 to 1990.
How many times has President’s Rule been imposed in Goa? Five times: in 1966-67, 1979-80, 1990-91, 1999 and 2005, adding up to roughly a year and nine months in all.
Practice Questions
Practice MCQs
- Goa became a full-fledged state of the Indian Union on which date? (a) 19 December 1961 (b) 20 December 1963 (c) 30 May 1987 (d) 1 November 1966 — Answer: (c) Goa was separated from Daman and Diu and became India’s twenty-fifth state on 30 May 1987.
- Who was the first Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu? (a) Pratapsingh Rane (b) Dayanand Bandodkar (c) Shashikala Kakodkar (d) Churchill Alemao — Answer: (b) Dayanand Bandodkar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party took office on 20 December 1963.
- The Goa Opinion Poll of January 1967 decided which question? (a) Statehood for Goa (b) Merger of Goa with Maharashtra (c) The official language of Goa (d) The location of the state capital — Answer: (b) Goans voted against merging the territory with Maharashtra, and the territory retained its separate identity.
- Goa’s only woman Chief Minister was: (a) Shashikala Kakodkar (b) Nirmala Sawant (c) Alina Saldanha (d) Victoria Fernandes — Answer: (a) Shashikala Kakodkar led Goa from 1973 to 1979 and was the daughter of Dayanand Bandodkar.
- Which Chief Minister of Goa held the office for the longest total period? (a) Manohar Parrikar (b) Digambar Kamat (c) Pratapsingh Rane (d) Pramod Sawant — Answer: (c) Pratapsingh Rane served close to sixteen years across four separate stints between 1980 and 2007.
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