Chief minister (India)
In India, a chief minister is the elected head of government of each state out of the 28 states and sometimes a union territory. Currently, only the UTs of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry have serving chief ministers. According to the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister.
Following elections to the State legislative assembly or Vidhan Sabha in a state, the state's governor usually invites the party with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints and swears in the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Based on the Westminster system, given that they retain the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term can last for the length of the assembly's life, a maximum of five years. There are no limits to the number of terms that the chief minister can serve. A chief minister heads a state government's council of ministers and can be deputised in that role by a deputy chief minister. The chief minister generally selects the chief secretary and can also allot departments to the cabinet ministers of their state and ministers of state. They also direct the chief secretary to transfer, suspend, or promote officers of their state.
Eligibility
The Constitution of India sets the principle qualifications one must meet to be eligible to the office of chief minister. A chief minister must be:An individual who is not a member of the legislature can be considered the chief minister provided they get themselves elected to the State Legislature within six months from the date of their appointment. Failing which, they would cease to be the chief minister.
Election
The chief minister is elected through a majority in the state legislative assembly. This is procedurally established by the vote of confidence in the legislative assembly, as suggested by the governor of the state who is the appointing authority. They are elected for five years. The chief minister holds office at the pleasure of the governor.Oath
Since, according to the constitution, the chief minister is appointed by the governor, the swearing in ceremony is held before the governor of the state.The oath of office
The oath of secrecy
Resignation
In the event of a chief minister's resignation, which conventionally occurs after a general election or during a phase of assembly majority transition, the outgoing chief minister holds the informal title of "caretaker" chief minister until the governor either appoints a new chief minister or dissolves the assembly. Since the post is not constitutionally defined, the caretaker chief minister enjoys all the powers of a regular chief minister, but cannot make any major policy decisions or cabinet changes during his or her short tenure as caretaker.Remuneration
By Article 164 of the constitution of India, remuneration of the chief minister as well as other ministers are to be decided by the respective state legislatures. Until the legislature of the state decides salary, it shall be as specified in the second schedule.The salaries thus vary from state to state. As of 2019, the highest salary is drawn by chief ministers of Telangana, which is and lowest by the chief ministers of Tripura which is legally.