Chief Minister of Puducherry

The French settlements in India were in a transition period between the de facto transfer day (i.e., 1 November 1954) and the de jure transfer day (i.e., 16 August 1962). In January 1955, the government of India, by an order, renamed these four French settlements in India as the State of Pondicherry. Both these transfer days are official holidays within the union territory of Puducherry.^[5][6]

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Chief Counselors of Pondicherry

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term in office
			Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		Maurice Pakkiriswamy Pillai (1906–1956)	17 August 1955	13 January 1956	149 days
2		Edouard Goubert (1894–1979)	17 January 1956	24 October 1958	2 years, 280 days
–	Vacant (25 October 1958 – 8 September 1959)
3		V. Venkatasubba Reddiar (1909–1982)	9 September 1959	30 June 1963	3 years, 294 days

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Enactment of the Government of Union Territories Act

On 10 May 1963, the government of India enacted the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, which came into force on 1 July 1963. It introduced the same pattern of government that prevailed in the rest of the country, but subject to certain limitations. Under Article 239 of the Indian Constitution, the president of India appoints the lieutenant governor of Puducherry with such designation as he may specify to head the administration of the territory. The lieutenant governor appoints the chief minister. The lieutenant governor, on the advice of the chief minister, appoints the council of ministers.^[7]

Also, the representative assembly was converted into the legislative assembly of Pondicherry on 1 July 1963 as per Section 54(3) of the Union Territories Act, 1963, and its members were deemed to have been elected to the assembly. Thus, the first legislative assembly was formed without an election. Elections for the assembly have been held since 1964.^[8]

Key

• ^RES Resigned
• ^DIS Dismissed by the Head of State
• ^NC Resigned following a no-confidence motion
• ^§ Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term

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Chief Ministers of Puducherry

AIADMK (1)   AINRC (1)   DMK (3)   INC (7)
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected constituency	Term of office[a]			Assembly (Election)	Ministry	Appointed by	Political party[b]
				Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		Edouard Goubert (1894–1979)	Mannadipet	1 July 1963	10 September 1964	1 year, 71 days	1st (1959)	Goubert	S. K. Datta	Indian National Congress
2		V. Venkatasubba Reddiar (1909–1982)	Nettapakkam	11 September 1964	8 April 1967[RES]	2 years, 209 days	2nd (1964)	Reddiar I	S. L. Silam
3		M. O. H. Farook (1937–2012)	Karaikal North	9 April 1967	5 March 1968[RES]	331 days		Farook I
(2)		V. Venkatasubba Reddiar (1909–1982)	Nettapakkam	6 March 1968[§]	18 September 1968[RES]	196 days		Reddiar II
–		Vacant (President's rule)	N/A	18 September 1968	16 March 1969	179 days	Dissolved	N/A	–	N/A
(3)		M. O. H. Farook (1937–2012)	Kalapet	17 March 1969[§]	3 January 1974[NC]	4 years, 292 days	3rd (1969)	Farook II	B. D. Jatti	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
–		Vacant (President's rule)	N/A	3 January 1974	5 March 1974	61 days	Dissolved	N/A	–	N/A
4		S. Ramassamy (1939–2017)	Karaikal South	6 March 1974	28 March 1974[NC]	22 days	4th (1974)	Ramassamy I	Cheddi Lal	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
–		Vacant (President's rule)	N/A	28 March 1974	1 July 1977	3 years, 95 days	Dissolved	N/A	–	N/A
(4)		S. Ramassamy (1939–2017)	Karaikal South	2 July 1977[§]	12 November 1978[DIS]	1 year, 133 days	5th (1977)	Ramassamy II	B. T. Kulkarni	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
–		Vacant (President's rule)	N/A	12 November 1978	15 January 1980	1 year, 64 days	Dissolved	N/A	–	N/A
5		M. D. R. Ramachandran (1934–2024)	Mannadipet	16 January 1980	24 June 1983[DIS]	3 years, 159 days	6th (1980)	Ramachandran I	B. T. Kulkarni	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
–		Vacant (President's rule)	N/A	24 June 1983	16 March 1985	1 year, 265 days	Dissolved	N/A	–	N/A
(3)		M. O. H. Farook (1937–2012)	Lawspet	17 March 1985[§]	7 March 1990	4 years, 355 days	7th (1985)	Farook III	T. P. Tewary	Indian National Congress
(5)		M. D. R. Ramachandran (1934–2024)	Mannadipet	8 March 1990[§]	4 March 1991[NC]	361 days	8th (1990)	Ramachandran II	Chandrawati	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
–		Vacant (President's rule)	N/A	4 March 1991	3 July 1991	121 days	Dissolved	N/A	–	N/A
6		V. Vaithilingam (b. 1950)	Nettapakkam	4 July 1991	26 May 1996	4 years, 327 days	9th (1991)	Vaithilingam I	Harswarup Singh	Indian National Congress
7		R. V. Janakiraman (1941–2019)	Nellithope	27 May 1996	21 March 2000[NC]	3 years, 299 days	10th (1996)	Janakiraman	Rajendra Kumari Bajpai	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
8		P. Shanmugam (1927–2013)	Yanam	22 March 2000	23 May 2001	1 year, 218 days		Shanmugam I	Rajani Rai	Indian National Congress
				24 May 2001	26 October 2001[RES]		11th (2001)	Shanmugam II
9		N. Rangaswamy (b. 1950)	Thattanchavady	27 October 2001	17 May 2006	6 years, 312 days		Rangaswamy I
				18 May 2006	3 September 2008[RES]		12th (2006)	Rangaswamy II	Madan Mohan Lakhera
(6)		V. Vaithilingam (b. 1950)	Nettapakkam	4 September 2008[§]	15 May 2011	2 years, 253 days		Vaithilingam II	Govind Singh Gurjar
(9)		N. Rangaswamy (b. 1950)	Kadirkamam	16 May 2011[§]	5 June 2016	5 years, 20 days	13th (2011)	Rangaswamy III	Iqbal Singh	All India N.R. Congress
10		V. Narayanasamy (b. 1947)	Nellithope	6 June 2016	25 February 2021[NC]	4 years, 264 days	14th (2016)	Narayanasamy	Kiran Bedi	Indian National Congress
–		Vacant (President's rule)	N/A	25 February 2021	6 May 2021	70 days	Dissolved	N/A	–	N/A
(9)		N. Rangaswamy (b. 1950)	Thattanchavady	7 May 2021[§]	Incumbent	4 years, 362 days	15th (2021)	Rangaswamy IV	Tamilisai Soundararajan	All India N.R. Congress

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Timeline

List of chief ministers by length of term

List by party

Parties by total duration (in days) of holding Chief Minister's Office

• History of Puducherry
• Elections in Puducherry
• Puducherry Legislative Assembly
• Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry
• List of current Indian chief ministers
• List of speakers of the Puducherry Legislative Assembly
• List of leaders of the opposition in the Puducherry Legislative Assembly