Council of Ministers in a state is formed as follows:

1. Appointment of Chief Minister: Appointment of the Chief Minister is the first step of formation of Cabinet. Article 164 says that the Governor will appoint the Chief Minister and will appoint the ministers on advice of the Chief Minister. The accepted precedence on this matter is to appoint the leader of the majority party in the legislative assembly as the Chief Minister. 

2. Selection of Ministers: The Chief Minister selects other ministers and he sends a list of their names and departments to the Governor. Formation of Cabinet is the privilege of the Chief Minister. Number of members in the Cabinet is decided by the Chief Minister. The 91st constitutional amendment had limited the number of ministers to 15% of the number of members in the legislative assembly. 

The Chief Minister has to keep in mind following things while selecting the ministers:

• All regions and classes of the state are given adequate representation in the Cabinet. 
• Generally the Chief Minister selects ministers from his own party so that the Cabinet can work like a unit.