West Bengal Governor R.N. Ravi administers the oath to new Ministers at the Lok Bhavan in Kolkata on June 1, 2026. Photo: Screengrab from ANI video.
Thirty-five BJP MLAs were sworn in as Ministers in the West Bengal government on Monday (June 1, 2026) at an event organised at Lok Bhawan. Kolkata.
West Bengal Governor R. N. Ravi administered oaths to 13 Cabinet Ministers, three Ministers of State (independent charge) and 19 other Ministers of State. With six Ministers, including the Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari taking the oath on May 9, the total number of Ministers has increased to 41.
Also read | Follow the highlights of West Bengal Cabinet expansion on June 1, 2026
As per Article 164(1A) of the Constitution, the total number of ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers in a State shall not exceed 15%. West Bengal has 294 seats in the State Legislative Assembly; therefore, the Council of Ministers can have a maximum of 44 members. Portfolios will be allocated to the new Ministers on June 3.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had given prominence to geographical, ethnic and gender considerations, in the expansion of the Council of Ministers in the State.
The number of women Ministers stands at seven with one Cabinet Minister, Agnimitra Paul, one Minister of State (Independent Charge) Malati Rava Roy, and one Minister of State, Kalita Majhi, MLA from Ausgram, who was a house-help before the elections.
Ten from North Bengal
Ten MLAs from North Bengal have made it to the Council of Ministers, which includes Nisith Pramanik — appointed Minister for North Bengal Development — and Sankar Ghosh, who was sworn in today. This is the highest number of legislators from North Bengal that have ever been included in the council of ministers in West Bengal. Only four MLAs from Kolkata have made it to the council, which is adeparture from the previous tradition where legislators from Kolkata dominated the Cabinet.
The key faces in the Cabinet who were sworn in on Monday include Tapas Roy, Swapan Dasgupta, Sharadwat Mukherjee, Arjun Singh, and Jagannath Chatterjee. These are MLAs who have been elected for the first time on a BJP ticket. Sankar Ghosh, Deepak Burman, Manoj Oraon, and Gouri Shankar Ghosh, who have been elected to the State Assembly for the second time were also sworn in as Cabinet Ministers.
Prominent names from the ST community include Manoj Oraon, Rajesh Mahato, Joyel Murmu, Amiya Kisku and Bishal Lama. The prominent names from Scheduled Caste community include Dipak Barman, Anandmoy Barman, Dudh Kumar Mondal, Hare Krishna Bera, Nadiar Chand Bauri, Dipankar Jana, and Kalita Majhi
Among the Ministers of State who were administered the oath were Joyel Murmu, Ashok Dinda, Anandamoy Burman, Kaushik Chowdhury, Gargi Das Ghosh, Bhaskar Bhattacharya, Dibakar Gharami, and Sumana Sarkar. BJP MLAs Santanu Pramanik, Purnima Chakraborty, and Umesh Rai were also sworn in as Ministers of State.
Attempts have been made to give every region and district representation. Prior to this, six BJP MLAs including Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and five others — Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania, Nisith Pramanik and Kshudiram Tudu were sworn in as Ministers at Kolkta Brigade Parade Grounds.
Published – June 01, 2026 01:18 pm IST
