Yogi Adityanath: First Uttar Pradesh CM to return after completing 5-year term

With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has made history in the state’s politics. Yogi Adityanath has become the first chief minister of Uttar Pradesh to return to power after completing a full tenure of five years.

Four chief ministers, however, have returned to power in Uttar Pradesh in the past but none of them was in the office for a full five-year term. Narayan Dutt Tiwari was the last Uttar Pradesh (undivided) chief minister to win consecutive terms in 1985. This makes Yogi Adityanath the first chief minister to retain power in 37 years.

Other UP chief ministers to retain for the consecutive term were Sampoornananda in 1957, Chandrabhanu Gupta in 1962 and Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna (Lok Sabha MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s father) in 1974.

Yogi Adityanath has also become the first chief minister from the BJP to retain power in Uttar Pradesh, and only the third chief minister in the state to complete the full tenure of five years. Others to complete their full tenures were Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati (2007-12) and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav (2012-17).

Uttar Pradesh has seen 21 persons becoming chief ministers. Some of them, such as Chandrabhanu Gupta, Chaudhary Charan Singh, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Kalyan Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, were chief ministers for multiple terms.