List of female governors in India

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In India, a governor is the constitutional head of each of the twenty-eight states. The governor is appointed by the President of India for a term of five years, and holds office at the President's pleasure. The governor is de jure head of the state government; all its executive actions are taken in the governor's name. However, the governor must act on the advice of the popularly elected council of ministers, headed by the chief minister, who thus hold de facto executive authority at the state-level. The Constitution of India also empowers the governor to act upon their own discretion, such as the ability to appoint or dismiss a ministry, recommend President's rule, or reserve bills for the President's assent. Over the years, the exercise of these discretionary powers have given rise to conflict between the elected chief minister and the union government–appointed governor.[1]

Map showing the number of the female Governors, Lieutenant Governors and Administrators served in Indian States and Union Territories

Sarojini Naidu was the first woman to become the governor of an Indian state.[2] She governed Uttar Pradesh from 15 August 1947 to 2 March 1949. Her daughter, Padmaja Naidu, is the longest-serving female governor with almost 11 years tenure in West Bengal.[3] Tamilisai Soundararajan is the recentmost appointment as the first female governor of Telangana.[4] Pratibha Patil and Draupadi Murmu later served as head of the state of India (President of India). States Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, West Bengal doesn't have any woman governor.

Chronological list

Key

Template:Legend inline Incumbent governor

No. Image Name From To Term length State Template:Abbr
1 Sarojini Naidu 15 August 1947 2 March 1949 Template:Ayd United Provinces [5]
2 Padmaja Naidu 3 November 1956 31 May 1967 Template:Ayd West Bengal [6]
3 Vijayalakshmi Pandit 28 November 1962 18 October 1964 Template:Ayd Maharashtra [7]
4 Sharda Mukherjee 5 May 1977 14 August 1978 Template:Ayd Andhra Pradesh [8]
14 August 1978 5 August 1983 Template:Ayd Gujarat [9]
5 Error creating thumbnail: Jothi Venkatachalam 14 October 1977 27 October 1982 Template:Ayd Kerala [10]
6 File:Kumudben Joshi.jpg Kumudben Joshi 26 November 1985 2 February 1990 Template:Ayd Andhra Pradesh [11]
7 File:Ram Dulari Sinha official portrait.gif Ram Dulari Sinha 23 February 1988 12 February 1990 Template:Ayd Kerala [10]
8 Sarla Grewal 31 March 1989 5 February 1990 Template:Ayd Madhya Pradesh [12]
9 File:Sheila Kaul Lok Sabha photo.jpg Sheila Kaul 17 November 1995 23 April 1996 Template:Ayd Himachal Pradesh [13]
10 File:Justice Fathima Beevi.JPG Fathima Beevi 25 January 1997 1 July 2001 Template:Ayd Tamil Nadu [14]
11 File:VS RamaDevi.jpg V. S. Ramadevi 26 July 1997 1 December 1999 Template:Ayd Himachal Pradesh [13]
2 December 1999 20 August 2002 Template:Ayd Karnataka [15]
12 File:The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Patil.jpg Pratibha Patil 8 November 2004 23 June 2007 Template:Ayd Rajasthan [16]
13 File:Prabha Rau.jpg Prabha Rau 19 July 2008 24 January 2010 Template:Ayd Himachal Pradesh [13]
25 January 2010 26 April 2010 Template:Ayd Rajasthan [17]
14 File:The Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Shri Somnath Chatterjee addressing at the inauguration of the Orientation Programme for the media persons accredited to the press gallery of Lok Sabha, in New Delhi on July 28, 2006 (cropped).jpg Margaret Alva 6 August 2009 14 May 2012 Template:Ayd Uttarakhand [18]
12 May 2012 7 August 2014 Template:Ayd Rajasthan [19]
12 July 2014 7 August 2014 Template:Ayd Goa
15 File:Kamla Beniwal.jpg Kamla Beniwal 27 November 2009 6 July 2014 Template:Ayd Gujarat [20]
6 July 2014 6 August 2014 Template:Ayd Mizoram [21]
16 File:Urmila Singh in 2010.jpg Urmila Singh 25 January 2010 27 January 2015 Template:Ayd Himachal Pradesh [22]
17 File:Sheila Dikshit Ji.jpg Sheila Dikshit 11 March 2014 25 August 2014 Template:Ayd Kerala [23]
18 File:Governor Mridula Sinha.jpg Mridula Sinha 31 August 2014 2 November 2019 Template:Ayd Goa [24]
19 File:President of India Droupadi Murmu official portrait (cropped).jpg Droupadi Murmu 18 May 2015 13 July 2021 Template:Ayd Jharkhand [25]
20 File:Najma A. Heptulla presenting the Badalte Qadam Award to the Cinematographer, Doordarshan, Ms. Jayshree Puri, at the Best Achievers Award Ceremony, organised by the Child Care & Welfare Foundation, in New Delhi (cropped).jpg Najma Heptulla 21 August 2016 10 August 2021 Template:Ayd Manipur [26]
21 File:Anandiben Patel Ji.jpg Anandiben Patel* 23 January 2018 28 July 2019 Template:Ayd Madhya Pradesh [27]
15 August 2018 28 July 2019 Template:Ayd Chhattisgarh [28]
29 July 2019 Incumbent Template:Ayd Uttar Pradesh [29]
22 File:The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi at the 1st Uttarakhand Investors Summit, at Dehradun, Uttarakhand (cropped).JPG Baby Rani Maurya 26 August 2018 15 September 2021 Template:Ayd Uttarakhand [30]
23 File:The Governor of Chhattisgarh, Ms. Anusuiya Uikey.jpg Anusuiya Uikey 29 July 2019 22 February 2023 Template:Ayd Chhattisgarh [31]
23 February 2023 26 July 2024 Template:Ayd Manipur
24 File:Tamilisai Soundarajan with President Kovind (cropped).jpg Tamilisai Soundararajan 8 September 2019 18 March 2024 4 years, 192 days Telangana [32]

See also

Template:Commons category

References

  1. ↑ Durga Das Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India. 1960. 20th edition, 2011 reprint. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. Template:ISBN. p. 237, 241–44.
  2. ↑ Sarojini Naidu: The first woman to become the governor of an Indian state. CNN-IBN(13 February 2014).
  3. ↑ Women Governors in India. Elections.in(10 July 2014).
  4. ↑ President appoints five new governors including Tamilisai Soundararajan in Telangana. The Hindu(September 2019).
  5. ↑ Shrimati Sarojini Naidu, Governor of UP. National Informatics Centre, UP State Union.
  6. ↑ Former Governors of West Bengal. West Bengal Government.
  7. ↑ Previous Governors List of Maharashtra. Maharashtra Government.
  8. ↑ Former Governors of Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh Government.
  9. ↑ Sharda Mukherjee, Former Governor of Gujarat. Gujarat Government.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Kerala Legislature - Governors. Kerala Government.
  11. ↑ Former Governors of AP. National Informatics Centre, AP State Union.
  12. ↑ Sarla Grewal, Governor of Madhya Pradesh. NIC.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Former Governors of Himachal Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh Government.
  14. ↑ Former Governors of Tamilnadu. Tamil Nadu Government.
  15. ↑ Ramadevi, Governor of Karnataka. Karnataka Government.
  16. ↑ Ex Governor of Rajasthan. Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Secretariat.
  17. ↑ President appoints Governors. Press Information Bureau, New Delhi Press release dated 16 January 2010.
  18. ↑ Margaret Alva, Governor of Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand Government.
  19. ↑ Margaret Alva, Governor of Rajasthan. Rajasthan Government.
  20. ↑ Kamla Beniwal, Governor of Gujarat. Gujarat Government.
  21. ↑ The story behind Kamla Beniwal's dismissal. The Hindu(8 August 2014).
  22. ↑ Urmila Singh, Governor of Himachal Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh Government.
  23. ↑ Sheila Dikshit, Governor of Kerala. The Times of India(4 March 2014).
  24. ↑ Mridula Sinha sworn-in as Goa Governor. The Hindu(31 August 2014).
  25. ↑ Draupadi Murmu Sworn In as First Woman Governor of Jharkhand. NDTV(18 May 2015).
  26. ↑ Manipur: Najma Heptulla to be sworn-in as Governor on Sunday. Indian Express(21 August 2016).
  27. ↑ "Anandiben Patel sworn in as Madhya Pradesh Governor". The Hindu. 23 January 2018.
  28. ↑ Anandiben Patel, Governor of Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh Government.
  29. ↑ Anandiben Patel Takes Oath As Uttar Pradesh Governor. NDTV. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  30. ↑ " Baby Rani Maurya sworn in as new Uttarakhand governor". The Economic Times. 26 August 2018.
  31. ↑ Anusuiya Uikey takes oath as governor of Chhattisgarh. India Today. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  32. ↑ Tamil Nadu BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan sworn in as second Telangana Governor. Hindustan Times(8 September 2019).

Template:Current Indian governors

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