Uttarakhand Cabinet Expansion: Five New Ministers Take Oath, Strength Rises To 12

Dehradun: Five new ministers have joined the Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami-led cabinet on Friday. The swearing-in of the newly appointed cabinet ministers took place at 10 am in Lok Bhawan. Governor Gurmit Singh administered the oath of office.

The newly inducted ministers are MLAs Madan Kaushik (Haridwar), Bharat Chaudhary (Rudraprayag), Pradeep Batra (Roorkee), Ram Singh Kaira (Bhimtal) and Khajan Das (Dehradun). With the induction of these ministers, Uttarakhand cabinet reached its maximum strength of 12.

The cabinet expansion, that comes three days before the current government completes four years of its tenure, is a significant move ahead of the Uttarakhand Assembly elections in 2027. These cabinet posts had remained vacant ever since the government was formed in 2022 and speculations regarding cabinet expansion had been surfacing periodically over time.

As per constitutional provisions, the state cabinet can have a maximum of 12 members. In 2022, nine MLAs, including CM Dhami had taken oath, leaving three posts vacant. On April 26, 2023, another cabinet post fell vacant following the demise of the former transport minister Chandan Ram Das and on March 16, 2025, the then finance minister Premchand Agarwal was compelled to resign following a controversial statement he had made. As a result, a total of five ministerial posts had remained vacant.

Taking to his X handle, CM Dhami greeted the newly appointed ministers and extended good wishes to them for the fulfilment of their responsibilities.

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