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{{Politics of India}}
The '''Council of Ministers of West Bengal''' is the collective decision-making body of the [[Government of West Bengal]], composed of the [[Chief Minister of West Bengal|Chief Minister]] and 34 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government [[minister (government)|ministers]]. The Cabinet is the ultimate decision-making body of the executive within the [[Westminster system]] of government in traditional constitutional theory.

The Union Council of Ministers of the Government of West Bengal was formed after the [[2011 West Bengal state assembly election]] held in six phases in 2011: on 18 April, 23 April, 27 April, 3 May, 7 and 10 May 2011. The results of the election were announced on 13 May 2011 and led to the formation of the [[West Bengal Legislative Assembly|15th Vidhan Sabha]]. [[Mamata Banerjee]] took oath as the 11th Chief Minister of West Bengal on 20 May 2011, followed by the oath-taking ceremonies of the present 'Council of Ministers'.

== Constitutional requirement ==

=== For the Council of Ministers to aid and advise Governor ===
According to [http://www.constitution.org/cons/india/p06163.html Article 163] of the [[Indian Constitution]],
{{quote|
# There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at the head to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his function, except in so far as he is by or under this Constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion.
# If any question arises whether any matter is or is not a matter as respects which the Governor is by or under this Constitution required to act in his discretion, the decision of the Governor in his discretion shall be final, and the validity of anything done by the Governor shall not be called in question on the ground that he ought or ought not to have acted in his discretion.
# The question whether any, and if so what, advice was tendered by Ministers to the Governor shall not be inquired into in any court.
}}

This means that the Ministers serve under the pleasure of the Governor and he/she may remove them, on the advice of the Chief Minister, whenever they want.

=== For other provisions as to Ministers ===
According to [http://www.constitution.org/cons/india/p06164.html Article 164] of the [[Indian Constitution]],
{{quote|
# The Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister, and the Minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor: Provided that in the States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, there shall be a Minister in charge of tribal welfare who may in addition be in charge of the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and backward classes or any other work.
# The Council of Minister shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State.
# Before a Minister enters upon his office, the Governor shall administer to him the oaths of office and of secrecy according to the forms set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule.
# A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the Legislature of the State shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister.
# The salaries and allowances of Ministers shall be such as the Legislature of the State may from time to time by law determine and, until the Legislature of the State so determines, shall be a specified in the Second Schedule.
}}

==Government and politics==
The West Bengal is governed through a [[parliamentary system]] of [[representative democracy]], a feature the state shares with other Indian states. [[Universal suffrage]] is granted to residents. There are two branches of government. The legislature, the [[West Bengal Legislative Assembly]], consists of elected members and special office bearers such as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, that are elected by the members. Assembly meetings are presided over by the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker in the Speaker's absence. The [[judiciary]] is composed of the [[Calcutta High Court]] and a system of lower courts. [[executive (government)|Executive authority]] is vested in the Council of Ministers headed by the [[Chief Minister of West Bengal|Chief Minister]], although the titular head of government is the [[Governor of West Bengal|Governor]]. The Governor is the [[head of state]] appointed by the [[President of India]]. The leader of the party or coalition with a majority in the Legislative Assembly is appointed as the Chief Minister by the Governor, and the Council of Ministers are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. The Council of Ministers reports to the Legislative Assembly. The Assembly is [[unicameral]] with 295 [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|Members of the Legislative Assembly]], or MLAs,<ref name=295mla>{{cite web|url=http://legislativebodiesinindia.gov.in/States%5Cwestbengal%5Cwesbengal-w.htm|title=West Bengal Legislative Assembly|accessdate=28 October 2006|work=Legislative Bodies in India|publisher=National Informatics Centre|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313022603/http://legislativebodiesinindia.gov.in/states/westbengal/wesbengal-w.htm|archive-date=13 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=ecidatabase>{{cite web
|url=http://www.eci.gov.in/DataBase/DataBase_fs.htm
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060818182708/http://eci.gov.in/DataBase/DataBase_fs.htm
|archivedate=18 August 2006|title=Election Database|accessdate=26 August 2006|publisher=Election Commission of India}}</ref> including one nominated from the [[Anglo-Indian]] community. Terms of office run for 5 years, unless the Assembly is dissolved prior to the completion of the term. Auxiliary authorities known as ''[[panchayat]]s'', for which local body elections are regularly held, govern local affairs. The state contributes 42 seats to [[Lok Sabha]] and 16 seats to [[Rajya Sabha]] of the [[Indian Parliament]].<ref name=togetherindiawb>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiatogether.org/states/bengal.htm|title=West Bengal|accessdate=26 August 2006|work=India Together|publisher=Civil Society Information Exchange Pvt. Ltd|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20020818174411/http://www.indiatogether.org/states/bengal.htm|archivedate=18 August 2002}}</ref>

The main players in the [[politics in West Bengal|regional politics]] are the [[All India Trinamool Congress]], the [[Indian National Congress]], the [[Left Front (West Bengal)|Left Front]] alliance. Following the [[2011 West Bengal state assembly election|West Bengal State Assembly Election in 2011]], the All India Trinamool Congress and Indian National Congress coalition under [[Mamata Banerjee]] of the All India Trinamool Congress was elected to power (getting 225 seats in the legislature).<ref>{{cite web|title=Statewise results – West Bengal |url=http://eciresults.nic.in/statewiseS25.htm |publisher=Election Commission of India |accessdate=13 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516052659/http://eciresults.nic.in/Statewises25.htm |archivedate=16 May 2011}}</ref> West Bengal had been ruled by the Left Front for the past 34 years, making it the world's longest-running democratically elected communist government.<ref name=Telegraphindia>{{cite news
|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070318/asp/opinion/story_7530898.asp|title=The CPI(M) has always used violence to achieve its goals|accessdate=26 August 2006
|work=India Together|publisher=The Telegraph|location=Calcutta, India|first=Rudrangshu|last=Mukherjee}}</ref><ref name=Timesofindia.indiatimes.com>{{cite news
|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/mj-akbar/the-siege-within/West-Bengal-Next-time-the-volcano/articleshow/4681879.cms|title=West Bengal: Next time, the volcano|accessdate=21 June 2009|work=The Times of India |location=India|first1=M J|last1=Akbar}}</ref>

== Council of Ministers ==
[[File:Mamata banerjee.jpg|right|200px|thumb|[[Chief Minister of West Bengal]], [[Mamata Banerjee]] heads her first Cabinet, May 2011 to present]]
{{Listen
|header=Mamata Banerjee's Oath of Office
|filename=Mamata Banerjee Oath of Office.ogg
|title=Taking the Oath at Raj Bhavan, Kolkata
|description=Mamata Banerjee takes the oath of office as Chief Minister administered by Governor M. K. Narayanan on May 20, 2011.
|pos=right
|type=sound
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}}
There are Total 41 Ministers with excluding [[Chief Minister of West Bengal]] with 17 New Face. This is a list of members of the Council of Ministers of the [[Government of West Bengal]] after the [[2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election|2016 state assembly election]].<ref>The result published on [http://eciresults.nic.in/PartyWiseResultS25.htm?st=S25 Election Commission of India]</ref> All ministers are based in offices of their respective Ministries in [[Kolkata]]. All Cabinet members are mandated by the [[Constitution of India|constitution]] to be members of the [[West Bengal Legislative Assembly|Vidhan Sabha of West Bengal]]. In a departure from the norm the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, did not join the cabinet as a member of the Vidhan Sabha.<ref>Data collected from (some data were wrong, corrected by Education Guide)[http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/list-of-ministers-in-mamatas-cabinet/article8654872.ece21 The Hindu]</ref><ref>[https://wbxpress.com/council-ministers-west-bengal-2016/ WB Xpress]</ref><ref>Data collected from [http://wbicc.in/about-us/west-bengal-council-of-ministers-updated-list/ West Bengal Information & Cultural Centre, New Delhi]</ref>

===Ranking===
There are three categories of ministers, in descending order of rank:
* '''Cabinet Minister:''' Senior minister in-charge of a ministry. A cabinet minister may also hold additional charges of other Ministries, where no other Cabinet minister is appointed
* '''Minister of State (Independent Charges):''' Junior minister not reporting to a cabinet minister
* '''Minister of State (MoS):''' Junior minister with overseeing Cabinet Minister, usually tasked with a specific responsibility in that ministry. For instance, an MoS in the Finance Ministry may only handle taxation

=== Cabinet Ministers ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:58em; align:left"
|-
! style="width:5%;"| Sl. No.
! style="width:18%;"| Name
! style="width:32%;"| Ministries
! style="width:12%;"| Constituency
|-
| 1
| '''[[Mamata Banerjee]]'''
| '''[[Chief Minister of West Bengal]]''' Also in-charge of: [[Ministry of Home Affairs (West Bengal)|Ministry of Home Affairs]] [[Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (West Bengal)|Ministry of Health & Family Welfare]] [[Ministry of Land & Land Reforms (West Bengal)|Ministry of Land & Land Reforms]] [[Ministry of Information & Cultural Affairs (West Bengal)|Ministry of Information & Cultural Affairs]] [[Ministry of Hill Affairs]] [[Micro and Small Scale Enterprises]] [[Ministry of Personnel & Administrative Reforms (West Bengal)|Ministry of Personnel & Administrative Reforms]] [[Ministry of Minority Affairs & Madrassah Education (West Bengal)|Ministry of Minority Affairs & Madrassah Education]]
| [[Bhabanipur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Bhabanipur]]
|-
| 2
| [[Partha Chatterjee (politician)|Partha Chatterjee]]
|[[Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (India)|Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs]] Minister for Education Minister of Science & Technology and Biotechnology
| [[Behala Paschim (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Behala Paschim]]
|-
| 3
| [[Amit Mitra]]
|[[Ministry of Finance (India)|Ministry of Finance]] [[Ministry of Excise]] [[Ministry of Commerce and Industries]] [[Ministry of Industrial Reconstruction]] [[Ministry of Public Enterprise]]
| [[Khardaha (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Khardaha]]
|-
| 4
|[[Subrata Mukherjee]]
| [[Ministry of Panchayat & Rural Development]] [[Ministry of Public Health Engineering]]
|[[Ballygunge (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Ballygunge]]
|-
| 5
|[[Bratya Basu]]
|[[Ministry of Information Technology & Electronics]]
|[[Dum Dum (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Dum Dum]]
|-
| 6
|[[Jyotipriyo Mullick]]
|[[Ministry of Food & Supplies]]
|[[Habra (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Habra]]
|-
| 7
|[[Sovandeb Chattopadhyay]]
|[[Ministry of Power & Non-Conventional Energy Sources]]
|[[Rashbehari (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Rashbehari]]
|-
| 8
|[[Arup Biswas]]
|[[Ministry of PWD]] [[Ministry of Youth Affairs, Sports]]
|[[Tollyganj (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Tollygung]]
|-
| 9
|[[Firhad Hakim]]
|[[Ministry of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs]]
|[[Kolkata Port (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Kolkata Port]]
|-
| 10
|[[Sovan Chatterjee]]
|[[Ministry of Fire & Engineering, Housing, Environment]]
|[[Behala Purba (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Behala Purba]]
|-
| 11
|[[Suvendu Adhikari]]
|[[Ministry of Transport]]
|[[Nandigram (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Nandigram]]
|-
| 12
|[[Abani Mohan Joardar]]
|[[Ministry of Correctional Administration]] [[Ministry of Refugee Relief & Rehabilitation]]
|[[Krishnanagar Uttar (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Krishnanagar Uttar]]
|-
| 13
|[[Sadhan Pande]]
|[[Ministry of Self Help Groups]] [[Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution]]
|[[Maniktala (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Maniktala]]
|-
| 14
|[[Abdur Rezzak Mollah]]
|[[Ministry of Food Procurement and Horticulture]]
|[[Bhangar (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Bhangar]]
|-
| 15
|[[Purnendu Bose]]
|[[Ministry of Agriculture]]
|[[Rajarhat Gopalpur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Rajarhat-Gopalpur]]
|-
| 16
|[[Arup Roy]]
|[[Ministry of Co-operation]]
|[[Howrah Madhya (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Howrah Central]]
|-
| 17
|[[Asish Banerjee]]
|[[Ministry of Biotechnology]] [[Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation]]
|[[Rampurhat (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Rampurhat]]
|-
| 18
|[[Javed Khan (politician)|Javed Khan]]
|[[Ministry of Disaster Management]]
|[[Kasba (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Kasba]]
|-
| 19
|[[Churamani Mahato]]
|[[Ministry of Backward Classes Welfare]]
|[[Kumargram (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Kumargram]]
|-
| 20
|[[Soumen Mahapatra]]
|[[Ministry of Water Resources (India)|Ministry of Water Resources]]
|[[Pingla (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Pingla]]
|-
| 21
|[[James Kujur]]
|[[Ministry of Tribal Development]]
|[[Kumargram (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Kumargram]]
|-
| 22
|[[Tapan Dasgupta]]
|[[Ministry of Agriculture Marketing]]
|[[Saptagram (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Saptagram]]
|-
| 23
|[[Goutam Deb]]
|[[Ministry of Tourism (India)|Ministry of Tourism]]
|[[Dabgram-Phulbari (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Dabgram-Phulbari]]
|-
| 24
|[[Chandranath Sinha]]
|[[Ministry of Fisheries]]
|[[Bolpur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Bolpur]]
|-
| 25
|[[Binay Krishna Barman]]
|[[Ministry of Forest]]
|[[Mathabhanga]]
|-
| 26
|[[Moloy Ghatak]]
|[[Ministry of Labour]] [[Ministry of Law & Judicial Services]]
|[[Asansol Uttar (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Asansol North]]
|-
| 27
|[[Rabindranath Ghosh]]
|[[Ministry of North Bengal Development]]
|[[Natabari (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Natabari]]
|-
| 28
|[[Rajib Banerjee]]
|[[Ministry of Irrigation and Waterways]]
|[[Domjur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Domjur]]
|-
| 29
|[[Santiram Mahato]]
|[[Ministry of Paschimanchal Unnayan]]
|[[Balarampur, Purulia (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Balarampur]]
|-
|}

=== Ministers of State (Independent Charges) ===
{{notelist}}
{| class="wikitable" style="width:58em; align:left"
|-
! style="width:5%;"| Sl. No.
! style="width:18%;"| Name
! style="width:32%;"| Ministries
! style="width:12%;"| Constituency
|-
| 30
|[[Swapan Debnath]]
|[[Ministry of MSME]]
|[[Purbasthali Dakshin (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Purbasthali South]]
|-
| 31
|[[Manturam Pakhira]]
|[[Ministry of Sunderbans Development]]
|[[Kakdwip (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Kakdwip]]
|-
| 32
|[[Ashima Patra]]
|[[Ministry of Technical Education]]
|[[Dhanekhali (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Dhanikhali]]
|-
| 33
|[[Shashi Panja]] {{efn|The MLA is also a Non-independent Minister of State (MoS)}}
|Minister of Women Development & Social Welfare, Child Development {{Tooltip|MoS|Minister of State}}–Health and Family Welfare
|[[Shyampukur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Shyampukur]]
|-
| 34
|[[Siddiquallah Chowdhury]] {{efn|The MLA is also a Non-independent Minister of State (MoS)}}
|{{Tooltip|MoS|Minister of State}}-[[Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (India)|Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs]] Minister of Mass Education, Library
|[[Mangalkot (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Mangalkote]]
|-
|}

=== Ministers of State (MoS) ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:58em; align:left"
|-
! style="width:5%;"| Sl. No.
! style="width:18%;"| Name
! style="width:32%;"| Ministries
! style="width:12%;"| Constituency
|-
| 35
|[[Indranil Sen]]
|[[Ministry of Information & Cultural Affairs]]
|[[Chandannagar (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Chandannagar]]
|-
| 36
|[[Laxmi Ratan Shukla]]
|[[Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports]]
|[[Howrah Uttar (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Howrah North]]
|-
| 37
|[[Bachhu Hansda]]
|[[Ministry of North Bengal Development]]
|[[Tapan (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Tapan]]
|-
| 38
|Ghulam Rabbani
|[[Ministry of Tourism (India)|Ministry of Tourism]]
|[[Goalpokhar (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Goalpokhar]]
|-
| 39
|[[Zakir Hossain]]
|[[Ministry of Labour]]
|[[Jangipur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Jangipur]]
|-
| 40
|[[Shyamal Santra]]
|[[Ministry of Panchayat & Rural Development]] [[Ministry of PHE]]
|[[Katulpur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Kotulpur]]
|-
| 41
|[[Sandharani Tudu]]
|[[Ministry of Backward Classes Welfare]]
|[[Manbazar (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Manbazar]]
|-
| 42
|[[Giasuddin Mollah]]
|[[Ministry of Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education]]
|[[Magrahat]]
|-
|}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banerjee 01}}
[[Category:West Bengal ministries]]
[[Category:State cabinet ministers of West Bengal|*]]
[[Category:All India Trinamool Congress]]
[[Category:Mamata Banerjee]]
[[Category:Cabinets established in 2011]]
[[Category:Cabinets disestablished in 2016]]
[[Category:2011 establishments in West Bengal]]
[[Category:2016 disestablishments in India]]

First Banerjee ministry - Revision history

->Vycl1994 at 20:48, 30 August 2021