16 elections, 23 CMs but most of them couldn’t complete term

The history of Karnataka’s chief ministers since the country’s Independence in 1947 and the state’s reorganisation in 1956 reveals that the state has so far seen very few coalition governments, with ruling parties getting the majority in most of the 16 assembly elections, but a majority of its CMs have been unable to complete their terms.
In its 75 years of history since 1947, first as Mysore and then as Karnataka, the state has had 32 chief-ministerial terms with 23 chief ministers in office.
S Nijalingappa, Veerendra Patil, D Devaraj Urs, and HD Kumaraswamy held the CM’s chair twice. Ramakrishna Hegde had three chief ministerial terms in his five years in office while BS Yediyurappa was sworn in as chief minister four times. Only three CMs have completed five-year terms and all three are from the Congress — S Nijalingappa, D Devaraj Urs and Siddaramaiah.
Data also reveals that only two chief ministers could retain their position in subsequent elections. They were D Devaraj Urs and Janata Party’s Ramakrishna Hegde, who began his political career with Congress. In 75 years, the state has seen nine Lingayat, seven Vokkaliga, five OBC, and two Brahmin chief ministers.
Congress ruled the state till 1983, barring some Presidential Rules in between. The state’s first three CMs were Vokkaliga leaders K Chengalaraya Reddy, Kengal Hanumanthaiah and Kadidal Manjappa. They ruled the state from 1947 to 1956.
Other Vokkaliga chief ministers include Janata Dal’s HD Deve Gowda, Congress’ SM Krishna, Janata Dal (Secular)’s HD Kumaraswamy and BJP’s DV Sadananda Gowda.
Congress’ S Nijalingappa was Karnataka’s first Lingayat chief minister who assumed office with the state’s reorganisation in 1956. His term was followed by three other Lingayat CMs from the party — BD Jatti, SR Kanthi, and Veerendra Patil.
Other Lingayat CMs of the state include Janata Party’s SR Bommai, Janata Dal’s JH Patel, and BJP’s BS Yediyurappa, Jagadish Shettar and Basavaraj Bommai.
The five OBC chief ministers of the state were all Congress leaders — D Devaraj Urs, S Bangarappa, M Veerappa Moily, N Dharam Singh and Siddaramaiah. Urs and Singh were Rajput leaders, considered upper castes in other states but counted as OBCs in Karnataka.
Congress’ R Gundu Rao and Janata Party’s Ramakrishna Hegde were two Brahmin and upper caste chief ministers of the state.
If we see the current caste reservation system in the state, all sub-sects of Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities are now under the OBC category. That means the state, since 1947, has seen 21 OBC chief ministers of the 23 in office so far. Urs was the longest-serving chief minister. During his two terms, he stayed in office for seven years and seven months or 2,792 days. He is closely followed by S Nijalingappa who was in office for seven years and five months during both his chief ministerial terms.
Term-wise, Nijalingappa was the longest-serving CM. His second term — from June 1962 to May 1968 — lasted five years and 11 months. Urs was in office for five years and nine months during his first term from March 1972 to December 1977.
BJP’s BS Yediyurappa, who was sworn in four times, also holds the record for shortest stints in office — just for eight days in 2007 and seven days in 2018. On the whole, his four CM terms lasted five years and two months.