Chief Minister of Maharashtra

The chief minister of Maharashtra (IAST: Mahārāṣṭrāce Mukhyamaṃtrī) is the head of the executive branch of the government of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Following elections to the Legislative Assembly, the governor invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government and appoints the chief minister. If the appointee is not a member of either the Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Council of Maharashtra, then the Constitution stipulates that they need to be elected within six months of being sworn in. The office of the CM is coterminous with the concurrent Assembly provided the CM commands confidence in the house and hence does not exceed five years. However, it is subject to no term limits.

Maharashtra was formed by dissolution of Bombay State and Hyderabad State on 1 May 1960. Yashwantrao Chavan, who was serving as the third CM of Bombay State since 1956, became the first CM of Maharashtra. He belonged to the Indian National Congress and held the office until the 1962 Assembly elections. Marotrao Kannamwar succeeded him and was the only CM to die while in office. Vasantrao Naik, who was in office from December 1963 to February 1975 for more than 11 years, has by far been the longest serving CM. He also was the first and only CM to complete his full term of five years (1967-1972) till Devendra Fadnavis matched it (2014-2019). With the exceptions of Manohar Joshi (SS), Narayan Rane (SS), Devendra Fadnavis (BJP), Uddhav Thackeray (SS) and Eknath Shinde (SS), all other CMs have been from the Congress or its breakaway parties.

So far, President's rule has been imposed thrice in the state: first from February to June 1980 and again from September to October 2014. It was again imposed on 12 November 2019.

The current incumbent is Devendra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party since 5 December 2024.

Colour key for political parties