Chief Ministers of Uttarakhand: Complete List, Tenure and Party
Every Chief Minister of Uttarakhand since the state was created as Uttaranchal on 9 November 2000, with exact term dates, parties and both 2016 President's Rule spells marked.
The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand is Pushkar Singh Dhami of the Bharatiya Janata Party, in office since 4 July 2021. He took oath a second time on 23 March 2022 after the BJP won that year’s assembly election, and in July 2026 he passed N. D. Tiwari’s record to become the state’s longest-serving Chief Minister.
Ten people have held the office since the state was created on 9 November 2000, and they have done so across thirteen separate spells, with two short periods of President’s Rule in 2016 breaking the chain. That works out to a change of Chief Minister roughly every two years, which is unusual for a state this small.
How the Office Works in Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand came into existence on 9 November 2000 under the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000, carved out of the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh and named Uttaranchal. That name was never popular with the statehood movement, which had campaigned for decades under the older cultural name Uttarakhand. The state assembly passed a resolution in October 2006, Parliament passed the Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Act, 2006, and from 1 January 2007 the state has officially been Uttarakhand. Nothing else changed with the renaming: the same government, the same boundaries, the same assembly. So the list below counts the Uttaranchal-era Chief Ministers as part of one continuous sequence.
The office itself works exactly as Article 164 lays down. The Governor appoints the Chief Minister and, on the Chief Minister’s advice, the other ministers. By convention the Governor calls the leader who can command a majority in the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha, a 70-member house that sits in Dehradun and, since 2020, in Bhararisain near Gairsain as the summer capital. The council of ministers is collectively responsible to the assembly, the normal term is five years, and there is no limit on how many times a person may hold the office. Article 164(4) also matters here, because a Chief Minister who is not a member of the legislature must become one within six months, and that clause has directly ended one Uttarakhand tenure.
Complete List of Chief Ministers of Uttarakhand
| # | Name | Term Start | Term End | Party | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nityanand Swami | 9 November 2000 | 29 October 2001 | Bharatiya Janata Party | First Chief Minister; headed the interim assembly formed at statehood |
| 2 | Bhagat Singh Koshyari | 30 October 2001 | 1 March 2002 | Bharatiya Janata Party | Later Governor of Maharashtra |
| 3 | N. D. Tiwari | 2 March 2002 | 7 March 2007 | Indian National Congress | Only Chief Minister to complete a full five-year assembly term |
| 4 | B. C. Khanduri | 7 March 2007 | 27 June 2009 | Bharatiya Janata Party | Retired Major General |
| 5 | Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ | 27 June 2009 | 11 September 2011 | Bharatiya Janata Party | Later Union Education Minister |
| (4) | B. C. Khanduri | 11 September 2011 | 13 March 2012 | Bharatiya Janata Party | Brought back months before the 2012 election |
| 6 | Vijay Bahuguna | 13 March 2012 | 31 January 2014 | Indian National Congress | Resigned amid criticism of the 2013 Kedarnath flood response |
| 7 | Harish Rawat | 1 February 2014 | 27 March 2016 | Indian National Congress | Government fell after a rebellion by Congress MLAs |
| – | President’s Rule | 27 March 2016 | 21 April 2016 | — | First spell; imposed after the March 2016 crisis |
| (7) | Harish Rawat | 21 April 2016 | 22 April 2016 | Indian National Congress | Restored for a single day by a High Court order |
| – | President’s Rule | 22 April 2016 | 11 May 2016 | — | Second spell; the Supreme Court stayed the High Court order |
| (7) | Harish Rawat | 11 May 2016 | 18 March 2017 | Indian National Congress | Reinstated after winning a court-monitored floor test |
| 8 | Trivendra Singh Rawat | 18 March 2017 | 10 March 2021 | Bharatiya Janata Party | Resigned four days short of four years |
| 9 | Tirath Singh Rawat | 10 March 2021 | 4 July 2021 | Bharatiya Janata Party | Resigned over the six-month rule on entering the legislature |
| 10 | Pushkar Singh Dhami | 4 July 2021 | Incumbent | Bharatiya Janata Party | Re-sworn on 23 March 2022; represents Champawat |
Two things stand out in that table. First, only one Chief Minister in twenty-five years, N. D. Tiwari, has run an assembly’s full term from start to finish, and every other five-year house has been shared between two or three occupants of the office. Second, the 2016 rows are not a formatting quirk: Harish Rawat’s government was dismissed, restored by a court, dismissed again on appeal, and restored a third time after a floor test, all inside seven weeks.
Longest-Serving and Most Notable Chief Ministers
For most of the state’s history the answer to “who served longest” was N. D. Tiwari, with 5 years and 5 days from 2 March 2002 to 7 March 2007. That changed this month. Pushkar Singh Dhami completed five continuous years on 4 July 2026 and crossed Tiwari’s total a few days later, making him the longest-serving Chief Minister in Uttarakhand’s history and the first from the BJP to serve five unbroken years in the job. Behind them come Trivendra Singh Rawat at 3 years 357 days and Harish Rawat at about 3 years 2 days spread over his three spells.
Nityanand Swami has the distinction of being the first, sworn in on the day the state was born, and the shortest tenure belongs to Tirath Singh Rawat, who lasted 116 days in 2021. His exit is the cleanest illustration of Article 164(4) in practice. He was a sitting Lok Sabha member when appointed, needed to enter the assembly within six months, and with by-elections uncertain during the pandemic he resigned rather than risk the deadline.
N. D. Tiwari remains the most consequential figure on the list. He had already been Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh three times before 2002, which makes him the only person to have headed the governments of both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and his single full term is still the benchmark for administrative continuity in the state. Harish Rawat’s 2016 tenure is the other landmark, though for constitutional rather than administrative reasons: the dismissal, the High Court’s decision to quash it, the Supreme Court’s stay, and the court-supervised floor test of 10 May 2016 together produced one of the sharpest tests of Article 356 since the Bommai judgment. B. C. Khanduri is the only person to have held the office twice, and Bhagat Singh Koshyari, whose 122-day tenure is among the shortest, later spent five years as Governor of Maharashtra.
How Power Has Shifted: Party Trends in Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand is a straight two-party state. Every Chief Minister has come from either the BJP or the Congress, with no regional party and no coalition of smaller groups ever forming a government. Seven of the ten individuals have been from the BJP and three from the Congress.
The alternation was almost mechanical for four election cycles. The BJP held office at statehood, the Congress won in 2002, the BJP in 2007, the Congress in 2012, and the BJP in 2017. That rhythm broke in 2022, when the BJP became the first party to be re-elected in Uttarakhand, even though Dhami lost his own Khatima seat and returned to the assembly through a by-election from Champawat in May 2022.
| Party | Chief ministers supplied | Approximate time in office |
|---|---|---|
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 7 | About 15 years 8 months |
| Indian National Congress | 3 | About 9 years 11 months |
| President’s Rule | — | 44 days over two spells in 2016 |
Records and Quick Facts
Shortest tenure: Tirath Singh Rawat, 116 days in 2021. Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s 122 days in 2001-02 is the next shortest.
Longest tenure: Pushkar Singh Dhami, past five years and still in office, ahead of N. D. Tiwari’s 5 years and 5 days.
Most stints: Harish Rawat, three, although all three fall inside a single assembly term because of the 2016 crisis. B. C. Khanduri is the only person with two separate stints in different assemblies.
President’s Rule spells: two, both in 2016, together lasting 44 days. That is one of the lightest records of central intervention among states of comparable age.
Youngest and oldest: Pushkar Singh Dhami was 45 when he took office in July 2021, the youngest in the state’s history. N. D. Tiwari was 76 when he was sworn in in March 2002, the oldest.
No woman Chief Minister: Uttarakhand has not had one since its creation.
Only full-term Chief Minister: N. D. Tiwari, 2002 to 2007.
For similar reference lists of other states, see the pages on Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
FAQ
Who is the current Chief Minister of Uttarakhand? Pushkar Singh Dhami of the Bharatiya Janata Party, in office since 4 July 2021. He was sworn in for a second term on 23 March 2022 after the BJP’s win in that year’s assembly election.
Who was the first Chief Minister of Uttarakhand? Nityanand Swami of the BJP, sworn in on 9 November 2000, the day the state was created as Uttaranchal. He held office until 29 October 2001.
Why was Uttaranchal renamed Uttarakhand? Uttarakhand was the name used by the statehood movement and carried the region’s older cultural identity, while Uttaranchal was the name chosen at the time of the 2000 reorganisation. The state assembly passed a resolution in October 2006, Parliament enacted the Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Act, 2006, and the change took effect from 1 January 2007.
Who has served longest as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand? Pushkar Singh Dhami, who crossed five years in office in July 2026 and overtook N. D. Tiwari’s earlier record of 5 years and 5 days.
How many Chief Ministers has Uttarakhand had? Ten individuals, across thirteen separate spells, plus two short periods of President’s Rule in 2016 when the office lay vacant.
Practice Questions
Practice MCQs
- Uttarakhand was created as a separate state on which date? (a) 1 November 2000 (b) 9 November 2000 (c) 15 November 2000 (d) 1 January 2007 — Answer: (b) The state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh on 9 November 2000 and was called Uttaranchal at the time.
- From which date has the state officially been known as Uttarakhand rather than Uttaranchal? (a) 9 November 2000 (b) 1 January 2007 (c) 7 March 2007 (d) 1 April 2006 — Answer: (b) The Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Act, 2006 gave effect to the change from 1 January 2007.
- Who was the first Chief Minister of Uttarakhand? (a) Bhagat Singh Koshyari (b) N. D. Tiwari (c) Nityanand Swami (d) B. C. Khanduri — Answer: (c) Nityanand Swami of the BJP was sworn in on 9 November 2000.
- Which Chief Minister of Uttarakhand completed a full five-year assembly term? (a) Harish Rawat (b) N. D. Tiwari (c) Trivendra Singh Rawat (d) Vijay Bahuguna — Answer: (b) N. D. Tiwari served from 2 March 2002 to 7 March 2007, the only case of one person heading a state assembly’s government from its first day to its last.
- President’s Rule was imposed in Uttarakhand in which year, in two separate spells? (a) 2012 (b) 2014 (c) 2016 (d) 2021 — Answer: (c) Both spells fell in 2016, around the dismissal and eventual reinstatement of the Harish Rawat government.