Number of ministers in Chhattisgarh govt ‘breaches constitutional limit’, Congress moves High Court

Congress pointed to the limit on the number of ministers, which is 15% of the total strength of the Assembly. The Chhattisgarh Assembly has 90 members, and 15% of that is 13.5. The BJP government now has 14 ministers.

Written by Jayprakash S Naidu

Raipur | Updated: September 5, 2025 07:46 PM IST

Chhattisgarh Congress communications head Sushil Anand Shukla. (Source: X/ @SushilAnandCG)

The Congress party has approached the Chhattisgarh High Court with a civil writ petition, accusing the BJP government in the state of breaching the constitutional limit on the number of ministers after the Cabinet expansion on August 20.

Nearly 20 months after coming to power, the BJP government inducted three more ministers to the Chhattisgarh Cabinet, taking the total number of ministers to 14. The Congress pointed to the constitutional limit on the number of ministers, which is 15% of the total strength of the Assembly. The Chhattisgarh Assembly has 90 members, and 15% of that is 13.5.

Chhattisgarh Congress communications head Sushil Anand Shukla said, “We have filed a writ petition and the matter will be heard by the High Court next week.”

On August 22, Leader of Opposition Charan Das Mahant wrote a letter to the Governor, asking him to remove one minister from the Cabinet. “Fifteen percent of 90 is 13.50, which means the number of ministers, including the Chief Minister, should not be more than 13.50. The current number is 14, which is greater than 13.50,” the letter said.

The Governor has not yet responded on the matter.

Hours after the three first-time MLAs were administered the oath by Governor Ramen Deka at Raj Bhavan and inducted into the Cabinet, former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel of the Congress alleged that both Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and Governor Deka acted unconstitutionally.

Speaking to journalists at the time, Baghel said, “We had brought a Bill in the Legislative Assembly in 2019 that the limit should be increased to 20% in states that have large geographical areas, but BJP MLAs did not support it. We passed the Bill, but we did not get a reply from the central government. I am happy that now we have 14 ministers, but I want to know, did they receive permission from the central government to do so, and was there a government gazette notification issued for it? If yes, I support it. But if permission is not given, then the Governor and Sai have done an unconstitutional act.”

Reacting to the allegations, Deputy Chief Minister Arun Sao said, “Due constitutional process has been followed. We have the example of Haryana before us. We follow the Constitution, but those who have a history of shattering and trampling on the Constitution should not make such allegations against us.”

From the homepage