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Punjab Province (1937-1947) The province of
Punjab was then headquartered in
Lahore.Under the
Government of India Act 1935, a bicameral legislature was set up with a legislative assembly and a legislative council with a government headed by the Prime Minister. The
Unionist Party won the
Punjab Provincial Assembly elections, 1937 and
Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan became the
Premier of Punjab and hold the position up to his death in 1942. Khan was succeeded by
Sir Khizar Tiwana. In
1946 elections were held the
Unionist Party stood fourth place but with the support of
Indian National Congress and
Shiromani Akali Dal formed the government under
Sir Khizar Tiwana. Tiwana later resigned on 2 March 1947 against the decision of
Partition of India.
Patiala and East Punjab States Union (1948-1956) Patiala and East Punjab States Union or
PEPSU was an Indian state formed by the union of the post-partition province of Punjab on the Indian side of the border with eight
princely states, which were allowed to maintain their native monarchs. The state was inaugurated on 15 July 1948 and formally became a
state in 1950. Among these princely states, six were
salute states:-
Patiala,
Jind,
Kapurthala,
Nabha,
Faridkot and
Malerkotla. The other two states were Nalagarh and Kalsia. PEPSU was earlier headed by the Premier, from 1952 the chief minister become the head of the government. On 1 November 1956, PEPSU was merged mostly into
East Punjab (Punjab from 1950) following the
States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
East Punjab (1947-1966) The state of East Punjab was formed in 1947 later it was renamed Punjab in 1950. It consisted of the parts of the
Punjab Province of
British India that went to India following the
partition of India. Since 1947, Punjab has had fifteen chief ministers. The first was
Gopi Chand Bhargava of the
Indian National Congress party, who was sworn in on 15 August 1947, when India
gained independence from the
British. He was succeeded by fellow Congressman
Bhim Sen Sachar, who was then subsequently replaced after 188 days by former Chief Minister Gopi Chand Bhargava. After a brief term,
President Rajendra Prasad placed the Punjab Legislative Assembly under suspension for nine months to help the state government gets its act together. In 1952, the first
state elections took place for the Legislative Assembly. The results of the election saw the return of the Congress government with former Chief Minister Bhim Sen Sachar as its leader. After he resigned in 1956,
Partap Singh Kairon became chief minister. Serving until 1964, Kairon remains one of Punjab's longest-serving chief ministers. He was followed by the returning Chief Minister Gopi Chand Bhargava, who briefly held office as acting chief minister for only 15 days. In July 1964,
Ram Kishan assumed the office and served for two years. His tenure was followed by the President's rule which lasted for 119 days. On 1 November 1966, the state of
Haryana was partitioned from Punjab and some other districts were given to the state of Himachal Pradesh.
Punjab (Since 1966) The first chief minister of the newly re-configured state was
Gurmukh Singh Musafir who led a Congress government from the Vidhan Parishad, one of only two to have done so. In the 1967 elections, he was voted out of power in favour of the
Akali Das Sant Fateh Singh Group whose leader
Gurnam Singh became the first non-Congress chief minister. Gurnam Singh's government was succeeded by three short-lived Akali Dal governments—
Lachhman Singh Gill's government for less than a year and a little more than a year under the returning Gurnam Singh and
Parkash Singh Badal. After 272 days under President's rule, the Congress party returned to power under the future President
Zail Singh. In 1977, Parkash Singh Badal became the chief minister for the second time.
Darbara Singh became chief minister in 1980 and remained in office for three years before a long period under President's rule. A brief interlude under
Surjit Singh Barnala followed, after which three Congress-led governments took office—led by
Beant Singh from 1992 to 1995,
Harcharan Singh Brar from 1995 to 1996 and
Rajinder Kaur Bhattal from 1996 to 1997. Upon taking office, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal became the first female chief minister of Punjab and overall the
8th female chief minister in India. Parkash Singh Badal assumed office for the third time in 1997 and became the first chief minister, since Kairon's resignation in 1964, to serve a full term. Badal was succeeded by Congressman
Amarinder Singh, who also successfully served a full term. In 2017 he became CM for the second time but failed to complete his tenure due to internal political factionalism and
Charanjit Singh Channi became the first
Dalit chief minister of Punjab just 6 months before the expiry of the 15th assembly. Since 1947, only 4 chief ministers had completed their five years term. Partap Singh Kairon, Zail Singh, Parkash Singh Badal and Amarinder Singh. No other chief minister had completed their single full term. ==Office==