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, 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.[1]
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 amongst the Indian Administrative Service cadre, since 1985 the Governor of Punjab has acted as the ex-officio Administrator of Chandigarh.
Current governors of states
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Assam
(list)
|
Janaki Ballabh Patnaik
|
11 December 2009
(4 years, 238 days)
|
[4]
|
|
Bihar
(list)
|
D. Y. Patil
|
22 March 2013
(1 year, 137 days)
|
[5]
|
|
Chhattisgarh
(list)
|
Balramji Das Tandon
|
14 July 2014
(0 years, 23 days)
|
[6]
|
|
Goa
(list)
|
Margaret Alva
|
12 July 2014
(0 years, 25 days)
|
[7]
|
|
Gujarat
(list)
|
Om Prakash Kohli
|
17 July 2014
(0 years, 20 days)
|
[8]
|
|
Haryana
(list)
|
Kaptan Singh Solanki
|
25 July 2014
(0 years, 12 days)
|
[9]
|
|
Himachal Pradesh
(list)
|
Urmila Singh
|
25 January 2010
(4 years, 193 days)
|
[10]
|
|
Jammu and Kashmir
(list)
|
Narinder Nath Vohra
|
25 June 2008
(6 years, 42 days)
|
[11]
|
|
Jharkhand
(list)
|
Syed Ahmed
|
4 September 2011
(2 years, 336 days)
|
[12]
|
|
Karnataka
(list)
|
K. Rosaiah
|
29 June 2014
(0 years, 38 days)
|
[13]
|
|
Kerala
(list)
|
Sheila Dikshit
|
11 March 2014
(0 years, 148 days)
|
[14]
|
|
Madhya Pradesh
(list)
|
Ram Naresh Yadav
|
8 September 2011
(2 years, 332 days)
|
[15]
|
|
Maharashtra
(list)
|
K. Sankaranarayanan
|
22 January 2010
(4 years, 196 days)
|
[16]
|
|
Manipur
(list)
|
Vinod Kumar Duggal
|
31 December 2013
(0 years, 218 days)
|
[17]
|
|
Meghalaya
(list)
|
Krishan Kant Paul
|
8 July 2013
(1 year, 29 days)
|
[18]
|
|
Mizoram
(list)
|
Kamla Beniwal
|
6 July 2014
(0 years, 31 days)
|
[19]
|
|
Nagaland
(list)
|
Padmanabha Acharya
|
14 July 2014
(0 years, 23 days)
|
[4]
|
|
Odisha
(list)
|
S. C. Jamir
|
21 March 2013
(1 year, 138 days)
|
[20]
|
|
Punjab
(list)
|
Shivraj Patil
|
22 January 2010
(4 years, 196 days)
|
[21]
|
|
Rajasthan
(list)
|
Margaret Alva
|
12 May 2012
(2 years, 86 days)
|
[22]
|
|
Sikkim
(list)
|
Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil
|
20 July 2013
(1 year, 17 days)
|
[23]
|
|
Tamil Nadu
(list)
|
K. Rosaiah
|
31 August 2011
(2 years, 340 days)
|
[24]
|
|
Telangana
(list)
|
E. S. L. Narasimhan
|
2 June 2014
(0 years, 65 days)
|
[25]
|
|
Tripura
(list)
|
Padmanabha Acharya
|
30 June 2014
(0 years, 37 days)
|
[26]
|
|
Uttar Pradesh
(list)
|
Ram Naik
|
14 July 2014
(0 years, 23 days)
|
[27]
|
|
Uttarakhand
(list)
|
Aziz Qureshi
|
15 May 2012
(2 years, 83 days)
|
[28]
|
|
West Bengal
(list)
|
Keshari Nath Tripathi
|
14 July 2014
(0 years, 23 days)
|
[5]
|
Current lieutenant governors and administrators of union territories