List of current Indian governors

In the Republic of India, a governor is the constitutional head of each of the twenty-nine 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, which thus holds de facto executive authority at the state-level. 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.

The union territories of Andaman and Nicobar, Delhi and Puducherry are headed by lieutenant-governors. Since Delhi and Puducherry have a measure of self-government with an elected legislature and council of ministers, the role of the lieutenant-governor there is a mostly ceremonial one, akin to that of a state's governor. The other four union territories—Chandigarh; Dadra and Nagar Haveli; Daman and Diu; and Lakshadweep—are governed by an administrator. Unlike the administrators of other territories, who are drawn from the Indian Administrative Service, since 1985 the Governor of Punjab has also been the ex-officio Administrator of Chandigarh and since 1987 the Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli has also been the ex-officio Administrator of Daman and Diu.

Current governors of states

State (past governors)	Name	Portrait	Took office (tenure length)
Andhra Pradesh	E. S. L. Narasimhan		28 December 2009 (9 years, 179 days)
Arunachal Pradesh	B. D. Mishra		3 October 2017 (1 year, 265 days)
Assam	Jagdish Mukhi		10 October 2017 (1 year, 258 days)
Bihar	Lalji Tandon		23 August 2018 (306 days)
Chhattisgarh	Anandiben Patel (additional charge)		15 August 2018 (314 days)
Goa	Mridula Sinha		31 August 2014 (4 years, 298 days)
Gujarat	Om Prakash Kohli		16 July 2014 (4 years, 344 days)
Haryana	Satyadev Narayan Arya		25 August 2018 (304 days)
Himachal Pradesh	Acharya Dev Vrat		12 August 2015 (3 years, 317 days)
Jammu and Kashmir	Satya Pal Malik		23 August 2018 (306 days)
Jharkhand	Draupadi Murmu		18 May 2015 (4 years, 38 days)
Karnataka	Vajubhai Vala		1 September 2014 (4 years, 297 days)
Kerala	P. Sathasivam		5 September 2014 (4 years, 293 days)
Madhya Pradesh	Anandiben Patel		23 January 2018 (1 year, 153 days)
Maharashtra	C. Vidyasagar Rao		30 August 2014 (4 years, 299 days)
Manipur	Najma Heptulla		21 August 2016 (2 years, 308 days)
Meghalaya	Tathagata Roy		25 August 2018 (304 days)
Mizoram	Jagdish Mukhi (additional charge)		9 March 2019 (108 days)
Nagaland	Padmanabha Acharya		19 July 2014 (4 years, 341 days)
Odisha	Ganeshi Lal		29 May 2018 (1 year, 27 days)
Punjab	V. P. Singh Badnore		22 August 2016 (2 years, 307 days)
Rajasthan	Kalyan Singh		4 September 2014 (4 years, 294 days)
Sikkim	Ganga Prasad		26 August 2018 (303 days)
Tamil Nadu	Banwarilal Purohit		6 October 2017 (1 year, 262 days)
Telangana	E. S. L. Narasimhan (additional charge)		2 June 2014 (5 years, 23 days)
Tripura	Kaptan Singh Solanki		25 August 2018 (304 days)
Uttar Pradesh	Ram Naik		22 July 2014 (4 years, 338 days)
Uttarakhand	Baby Rani Maurya		26 August 2018 (303 days)
West Bengal	Keshari Nath Tripathi		24 July 2014 (4 years, 336 days)

Current lieutenant governors and administrators of union territories

Office and union territory (past officeholders)	Name	Portrait	Took office (tenure length)
Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Devendra Kumar Joshi		8 October 2017 (1 year, 260 days)
Administrator of Chandigarh	V. P. Singh Badnore		22 August 2016 (2 years, 307 days)
Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli	Praful Khoda Patel		30 December 2016 (2 years, 177 days)
Administrator of Daman and Diu	Praful Khoda Patel		29 August 2016 (2 years, 300 days)
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi	Anil Baijal		31 December 2016 (2 years, 176 days)
Administrator of Lakshadweep	Farooq Khan		6 September 2016 (2 years, 292 days)
Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry	Kiran Bedi		29 May 2016 (3 years, 27 days)

List of female Indian governors

In India, a governor is the constitutional head of each of the twenty-nine 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 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. The union territories of Andaman and Nicobar, Delhi and Puducherry are headed by lieutenant-governors.

Sarojini Naidu was the first female to become the governor of an Indian state. She governed Uttar Pradesh from 15 August 1947 to 2 March 1949. Her daughter, Padmaja Naidu, is the longest-serving governor with 11-year tenure in West Bengal. Baby Rani Maurya was recently appointed as the second female governor of Uttarakhand.

Governors

incumbent governor

Name	From	To	Term length	State
Sarojini Naidu	15 August 1947	2 March 1949	1 year, 199 days	Uttar Pradesh
Padmaja Naidu	3 November 1956	31 May 1967	10 years, 209 days	West Bengal
Vijayalakshmi Pandit	28 November 1962	18 October 1964	1 year, 325 days	Maharashtra
Sharda Mukherjee	5 May 1977	14 August 1978	1 year, 101 days	Andhra Pradesh
Jyothi Venkatachalam	14 October 1977	27 October 1982	5 years, 13 days	Kerala
Sharda Mukherjee	14 August 1978	5 August 1983	4 years, 356 days	Gujarat
Kumudben Manishankar Joshi	26 November 1985	2 February 1990	4 years, 68 days	Andhra Pradesh
Ram Dulari Sinha	23 February 1988	12 February 1990	1 year, 354 days	Kerala
Sarla Grewal	31 March 1989	5 February 1990	311 days	Madhya Pradesh
Chandrawati	19 February 1990	18 December 1990	302 days	Puducherry
Rajendra Kumari Bajpai	2 May 1995	22 April 1998	2 years, 355 days	Puducherry
Sheila Kaul	17 November 1995	23 April 1996	158 days	Himachal Pradesh
Fathima Beevi	25 January 1997	1 July 2001	4 years, 157 days	Tamil Nadu
V. S. Ramadevi	26 July 1997	1 December 1999	2 years, 128 days	Himachal Pradesh
Rajani Rai	23 April 1998	29 July 2002	4 years, 97 days	Puducherry
V. S. Ramadevi	2 December 1999	20 August 2002	2 years, 261 days	Karnataka
Pratibha Patil	8 November 2004	23 June 2007	2 years, 227 days	Rajasthan
Prabha Rau	19 July 2008	24 January 2010	1 year, 189 days	Himachal Pradesh
Margaret Alva	6 August 2009	14 May 2012	2 years, 262 days	Uttarakhand
Kamla Beniwal	27 November 2009	6 July 2014	4 years, 221 days	Gujarat
Prabha Rau	25 January 2010	26 April 2010	91 days	Rajasthan
Urmila Singh	25 January 2010	27 January 2015	5 years, 2 days	Himachal Pradesh
Margaret Alva	12 May 2012	7 August 2014	2 years, 87 days	Rajasthan
Sheila Dikshit	11 March 2014	25 August 2014	167 days	Kerala
Kamla Beniwal	6 July 2014	6 August 2014	31 days	Mizoram
Mridula Sinha *	31 August 2014	Incumbent	4 years, 288 days	Goa
Draupadi Murmu *	18 May 2015	Incumbent	4 years, 28 days	Jharkhand
Kiran Bedi *	29 May 2016	Incumbent	3 years, 17 days	Puducherry
Najma Heptulla *	21 August 2016	Incumbent	2 years, 298 days	Manipur
Anandiben Patel *	23 January 2018	Incumbent	1 year, 143 days	Madhya Pradesh
Baby Rani Maurya *	26 August 2018	Incumbent	293 days	Uttarakhand

Which state first elected a Woman as Governor?

Uttar Pradesh is the first state which elected a woman as the Governor. Sarojini Naidu, popularly known as the “Nightingale of India”, was the first Indian woman to become the governor of Uttar Pradesh which was then known as the United Provinces. After the Independence of India in 1947, the princely states of Benares, Rampur, and Tehri-Garhwal were merged with United Provinces and it was later renamed as Uttar Pradesh on 25th January 1950. As of now, another state named Uttarakhand has been carved out of Uttar Pradesh. Currently, five states including Goa, Jharkhand, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttarakhand and one Union Territory – Puducherry, have incumbent women governors.

Sarojini Naidu, who served as the first woman governor of the United Provinces (1947-1949) was also the first Indian woman to be elected as the President of Indian National Congress. Born as Sarojini Chattopadhyay, Sarojini was an important figure in the freedom struggle and was also a renowned poet. She died of a cardiac arrest on 2nd March 1949 in office. Naidu is an important name in the political history of India as she participated in various important movements like the Indian National Movement. She also accompanied Mahatma Gandhi to London and participated in the Round Table Conference for Indian-British Cooperation (1931). Sarojini has emerged to be one of the most influential poets of her time and was also elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1914. Her works “The Golden Threshold, The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring, The Broken Wing: Songs of Love, Death and the Spring, The Sceptred Flute, and The Feather of the Dawn” etc. have brought to her immense praise as a poet. Her role as the Governor of the United Provinces also received a positive response as it is widely believed that she was a troubleshooter and prevented political crisis in the state. Sarojini’s daughter, Padmaja Naidu is the second woman governor in India. She is also the longest-serving Governor with a tenure of 11 years. Padmaja served as the Governor of West Bengal.

Many states of India including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Mizoram have had female governors since the Independence of India. However, still, there are many states which are yet to have women as the governor of the states.