List of governors of Karnataka

The Governor of Karnataka is the constitutional head of the Indian state of Karnataka. 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 Government of Karnataka; 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 of Karnataka, which thus holds de facto executive authority in the state. The Constitution of India also empowers the governor to act upon his or her 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 central government–appointed governor.

Since 1956, eighteen people have served as the Governor of Mysore (as the state was known before 1 November 1973) and Karnataka. The first was Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, previously the Maharaja of Mysore (1940–50) and the Rajpramukh of Mysore (1950–56). A majority of Karnataka's governors have been politicians (ten), another five have been civil servants. V. V. Giri went on become the fourth President of India, and Gopal Swarup Pathak the country's fourth Vice President. Smt V.S.Ramadevi who was the first and only Women Governor of Karnataka (1999-2002) and also she hold the record of first Women Chief Election Commissioner in india.

Governors of Mysore and Karnataka

No	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Duration	Selected former office(s)
1		Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar	1 November 1956	4 May 1963	Template:Age in years and days	Maharaja of Mysore, Rajpramukh of Mysore
2		S. M. Shrinagesh	4 May 1963	2 April 1965	Template:Age in years and days	Chief of the Army Staff
3		V. V. Giri	2 April 1965	13 May 1967	Template:Age in years and days	Fourth President of India
4		Gopal Swarup Pathak	13 May 1967	30 August 1969	Template:Age in years and days	Fourth Vice-President of India
5		Dharma Vira	23 October 1970	1 February 1972	Template:Age in years and days	Governor of Punjab, Haryana, and West Bengal
6		Mohanlal Sukhadia	1 February 1972	10 January 1975	Template:Age in years and days	Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu
7	Template:Dash	Uma Shankar Dikshit	10 January 1975	2 August 1977	Template:Age in years and days	Governor of West Bengal and the Minister of Home Affairs
8	Template:Dash	Govind Narain	2 August 1977	15 April 1982	Template:Age in years and days	First and the only member of the Imperial Civil Service to have been appointed and served as Governor of Karnataka
9	Template:Dash	Ashoknath Banerji	16 April 1982	25 February 1987	Template:Age in years and days	First member of the Indian Administrative Service to have served in this office
10	Template:Dash	Pendekanti Venkatasubbaiah	26 February 1987	5 February 1990	Template:Age in years and days	Governor of Bihar, Minister of Home and Parliamentary Affairs
11	Template:Dash	Bhanu Pratap Singh	8 May 1990	6 January 1992	Template:Age in years and days	Member of Parliament
12		Khurshed Alam Khan	6 January 1992	2 December 1999	Template:Age in years and days	Member of Parliament, Governor of Goa
13		V. S. Ramadevi	2 December 1999	20 August 2002	Template:Age in years and days	Chief Election Commissioner of India, Secretary General of Rajya Sabha, Governor of Himachal Pradesh, the first and only female governor of Karnataka
14		T. N. Chaturvedi	21 August 2002	20 August 2007	Template:Age in years and days	Comptroller and Auditor General of India
15		Rameshwar Thakur	21 August 2007	24 June 2009	Template:Age in years and days	Governor of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh
16		Hansraj Bhardwaj	24 June 2009	29 June 2014	Template:Age in years and days	Union Minister of Law and Justice, Governor of Kerala
17		Konijeti Rosaiah	29 June 2014	31 August 2014	Template:Age in years and days	Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Governor of Tamil Nadu
18		Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala	1 September 2014	10 July 2021	Template:Age in years and days	Speaker of Gujarat Vidhan Sabha
19		Thawar Chand Gehlot	11 July 2021	Incumbent	Template:Age in years and days	Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha

External links

• [1]
• Succession of Governors
• Karnataka Raj Bhavan Website