List of chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh
The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh is the chief executive of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly, the state's governor usually invites the party with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.
Following Madhya Pradesh's reorganisation on 1 November 1956, 18 people have served as its chief minister. Twelve of these belonged to the Indian National Congress, including the inaugural officeholder Ravishankar Shukla. The first non-Congress chief minister was Govind Narayan Singh who defected from the party and lead a Samyukta Vidhayak Dal government from 1967 to 1969. Digvijaya Singh of the Congress became the first officeholder to serve two full five-year terms. He was succeeded by Uma Bharti of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Madhya Pradesh's only woman chief minister. Shivraj Singh Chouhan of the Bharatiya Janata Party is the longest serving and current incumbent.Footnotes
