List of female Indian chief ministers
Sixteen women have served as the chief minister of an Indian state and union territory. Currently, one is in office — Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal. Of the thirteen states and union territories to have been headed by a female chief minister, only three—Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh—have had two women chief ministers each. Five of the women chief ministers belonged to the Indian National Congress, four to the Bharatiya Janata Party and two to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, no other party has ever had more than one female chief minister in office.
In the Republic of India, a chief minister is the head of government of each of twenty-eight states and three of the eight union territories. According to the Constitution of India, at the state-level, the governor is de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the state legislative assembly, the governor usually invites the party with a majority of seats to form the state government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years; the office is subject to no term limits.;Key
