Madhya Pradesh elections 2023: A look back at the chief ministers of the state
Madhya Pradesh has seen 18 chief ministers following its reorganisation on 1 November, 1956.
Congress’ Ravishankar Shukla was the first chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. His tenure was short-lived; from 1 November 1956 to 31 December 1956.
The Congress ruled Madhya Pradesh till 1977, with different chief ministers including Bhagwantrao Mandloi, Kailash Nath Katju, Dwarka Prasad Mishra, Govind Narayan Singh, Raja Nareshchandra Singh, Shyama Charan Shukla, and Prakash Chandra Sethi.
In the post-Emergency election of 1977, the Congress was reduced to 84 seats in the 320-member House and Kailash Chandra Joshi was appointed as chief minister by the Janata Party.
In less than three years, the state had three chief ministers: Kailash Chandra Joshi, Virendra Kumar Saklecha, and Sundarlal Patwa, and the government was deposed soon after Indira Gandhi returned as prime minister in January 1980.
After the Congress won the Assembly elections of 1980, Indira chose Arjun Singh, the MLA from Churhat in Sidhi district, to be chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.
Madhya Pradesh saw five Congress chief ministers between 1980 and 1989, with Arjun Singh and Motilal Vora serving twice each before Shyama Charan Shukla returned for a brief third term.
The BJP got a historic mandate in the Assembly elections held in 1990, winning 220 of the 320 seats, and Sundarlal Patwa became CM.
In the elections of 1993, the BJP was reduced to 117 seats and the position of CM in Bhopal went to Digvijaya Singh of the erstwhile royal family of Raghogarh. He remained in power for two full terms until 2003.
In 2003, Uma Bharti, who had shot to prominence during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, became CM, only to give up the post in August 2004, after an old case opened against her.
Uma Bharti gave the chief ministerial post to Babulal Gaur, who was made to resign shortly after a tussle with the party leadership. Shivraj Singh Chouhan took oath as CM and went on to serve from 2005 to 2018.
The Congress won 114 seats in the 2018 election, while the BJP got 109, and Congress' Kamal Nath was appointed CM. However, Jyotiraditya Scindia left the party, and Chouhan was re-elected as CM in March 2020.