| Chief minister of Kerala | |
|---|---|
| Kēraḷa Mukhyamantri | |
 | |
 | |
| Chief minister's office | |
| Style | The Honourable (Formal) Mr./Mrs. Chief Minister (Informal) |
| Type | Head of government |
| Status | Leader of the Executive |
| Abbreviation | CM |
| Member of | |
| Reports to | |
| Residence | Cliff House, Thiruvananthapuram |
| Seat | Kerala Government Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram |
| Appointer | Governor of Kerala |
| Term length | At the pleasure of the governor of Kerala[1] |
| 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 |
| Deputy | Vacant |
| Salary |
|
| Website | CMO Kerala |
The Chief Minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. 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 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.
- ^ "Article 164 in constitution of India".
- ^ Durga Das Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India. 1960. 20th Edition, 2011 Reprint. pp. 241, 245. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. ISBN 978-81-8038-559-9. Note: although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Kerala as well.
- ^ a b c Sreedhara Menon, A. (January 2007). Kerala Charitram (2007 ed.). Kottayam: DC Books. ISBN 978-81-264-1588-5.