Is the Chief Minister a Member of the State Legislature?

By Balaji

Updated on: March 9th, 2023

The Chief Minister may be a member of either of the two-state legislature chambers, per the Indian Constitution. The lower house (legislative assembly) has traditionally chosen chief ministers, although the upper house (legislative council) has also nominated chief ministers on several occasions. A chief minister is the elected head of government for each of India’s 28 states and, in rare cases, a union territory.

Table of content

1. Chief Minister – Member of the State Legislature
2. Is the Chief Minister a Member of the State Legislature?

Chief Minister – Member of the State Legislature

While serving as members of the state legislative council, C Rajagopalachari in Madras (now Tamil Nadu), Morarji Desai in Bombay (now Maharashtra), CB Gupta in Uttar Pradesh, and BP Mandal in Bihar were all nominated as chief ministers.

A person who is not a member of the state legislature may be named Chief Minister for a period of six months.
They lose their status as Chief Minister if they are not elected to the state legislature during that time.
Despite not being elected to the state legislature, Bansilal and S B Chavan were picked to govern Haryana and Maharashtra, respectively.
They were later elected to the state legislature.
If they are elected to the State Legislature within six months of their appointment, a person who is not a member of the legislature may be considered the chief minister.
If that did not happen, they would be removed as chief ministers.

Summary: