List of governors of Kerala

Governor of Kerala
Emblem of Kerala
Incumbent Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar since 2 January 2025 (2025-01-02)
Style	The Honourable, His Excellency
Residence	Raj Bhavan, Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram
Appointer	President of India
Term length	At the pleasure of the president
Formation	1 November 1956; 68 years ago (1956-11-01)
Website	www.rajbhavan.kerala.gov.in

The governor of Kerala is the constitutional head of state of the southern Indian state of Kerala. The governor is appointed by the president of India, and holds office at the president's pleasure. The governor is de jure head of the government of Kerala; all its executive actions are taken in the governor's name. The elected council of ministers is headed by the chief minister of Kerala, who thus holds de facto executive authority in the state. 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.^[1]

Since 2 January 2025, Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, is the 23th governor of Kerala.

List

Legend

• ^† Died in office
• ^§ Transferred
• ^‡ Resigned/removed

Color key

•    indicates acting/additional charge

#	Portrait	Name (born – died)	Home state	Tenure in office			Appointer (President)
				From	To	Time in office
–		P. S. Rao (Acting)	Andhra Pradesh	1 November 1956	21 November 1956	20 days	Rajendra Prasad
1		Burgula Ramakrishna Rao (1899–1967)	Andhra Pradesh	22 November 1956	1 July 1960^[§][α]	3 years, 222 days
2		V. V. Giri (1894–1980)	Madras Presidency	1 July 1960	2 April 1965^[§][β]	4 years, 275 days
3		Ajit Prasad Jain (1902–1977)	Uttar Pradesh	2 April 1965	6 February 1966^[‡]	310 days	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
4		Bhagwan Sahay ICS (Retd) (1905–1986)	Uttar Pradesh	6 February 1966	15 May 1967^[§][γ]	1 year, 98 days
5		V. Viswanathan ICS (Retd) (1909–1987)	Kerala	15 May 1967	1 April 1973	5 years, 321 days	Zakir Husain
6		N. N. Wanchoo ICS (Retd) (1910–1982)	Madhya Pradesh	1 April 1973	10 October 1977^[§][δ]	4 years, 192 days	V. V. Giri
7		Jothi Venkatachalam (1917–?)	Tamil Nadu	14 October 1977	27 October 1982	5 years, 13 days	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
8		P. Ramachandran (1921–2001)	Tamil Nadu	27 October 1982	23 February 1988	5 years, 119 days	Zail Singh
9		Ram Dulari Sinha (1922–1994)	Bihar	23 February 1988	12 February 1990^[‡]	1 year, 354 days	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
10		Sarup Singh (1917–2003)	Haryana	12 February 1990	20 December 1990^[§][ε]	311 days
11		B. Rachaiah (1922–2000)	Karnataka	20 December 1990	15 April 1995	4 years, 116 days
–		Gopala Ramanujam (1915–2001) Governor of Orissa (Acting)	Tamil Nadu	15 April 1995	30 April 1995	15 days	Shankar Dayal Sharma
(11)		B. Rachaiah (1922–2000)	Karnataka	1 May 1995	11 November 1995	194 days
12		P. Shiv Shankar (1929–2017)	Andhra Pradesh	12 November 1995	4 May 1996^[‡]	171 days
–		Khurshed Alam Khan (1919–2013) Governor of Karnataka (Additional Charge)	Uttar Pradesh	5 May 1996	25 January 1997	265 days
13		Justice (Retd) Sukhdev Singh Kang (1931–2012)	Punjab	25 January 1997	29 February 2000	3 years, 35 days
–		C. Rangarajan (born 1932) Governor of Andhra Pradesh (Acting)	Tamil Nadu	29 February 2000	23 April 2000	54 days	K. R. Narayanan
(13)		Justice (Retd) Sukhdev Singh Kang (1931–2012)	Punjab	23 April 2000	19 October 2000	179 days
–		C. Rangarajan (born 1932) Governor of Andhra Pradesh (Acting)	Tamil Nadu	19 October 2000	7 November 2000	19 days
(13)		Justice (Retd) Sukhdev Singh Kang (1931–2012)	Punjab	7 November 2000	14 September 2001	311 days
–		Mohammed Fazal (1922–2014) Governor of Goa (Acting)	Uttar Pradesh	14 September 2001	28 September 2001	14 days
(13)		Justice (Retd) Sukhdev Singh Kang (1931–2012)	Punjab	28 September 2001	16 February 2002	141 days
–		C. Rangarajan (born 1932) Governor of Andhra Pradesh (Acting)	Tamil Nadu	16 February 2002	28 February 2002	12 days
(13)		Justice (Retd) Sukhdev Singh Kang (1931–2012)	Punjab	28 February 2002	18 April 2002	49 days
14		Sikander Bakht (1918–2004)	National Capital Territory of Delhi	18 April 2002	23 February 2004^[†]	1 year, 311 days
–		T. N. Chaturvedi IAS (Retd) (1928–2020) Governor of Karnataka (Additional Charge)	Uttar Pradesh	25 February 2004	23 June 2004	119 days	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
15		R. L. Bhatia (1920–2021)	Punjab	23 June 2004	10 July 2008^[§][ζ]	4 years, 17 days
16		R. S. Gavai (1929–2015)	Maharashtra	11 July 2008	7 September 2011	3 years, 58 days	Pratibha Patil
17		M. O. H. Farook (1937–2012)	Puducherry	8 September 2011	26 January 2012^[†]	140 days
–		H. R. Bhardwaj (1939–2020) Governor of Karnataka (Additional Charge)	Punjab	26 January 2012	22 March 2013	1 year, 55 days
18		Nikhil Kumar IPS (Retd) (born 1941)	Bihar	23 March 2013	5 March 2014^[‡][η]	347 days	Pranab Mukherjee
19		Sheila Dikshit (1938–2019)	National Capital Territory of Delhi	5 March 2014	5 September 2014^[‡]	184 days
20		Justice (Retd) P. Sathasivam (born 1949)	Tamil Nadu	5 September 2014	5 September 2019	5 years, 0 days
21		Arif Mohammad Khan (born 1951)	Uttar Pradesh	6 September 2019	1 January 2025^[§][ζ]	5 years, 117 days	Ram Nath Kovind
22		Rajendra Arlekar (born 1954)	Goa	2 January 2025	Incumbent	230 days	Droupadi Murmu

1. Transferred as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh
2. Transferred as the Governor of Mysore State
3. Transferred as the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir
4. Transferred as the Governor of Madhya Pradesh
5. Transferred as the Governor of Gujarat
6. Transferred as the Governor of Bihar
7. Resigned to contest in the 2014 general election

See also

• Kerala
• Governors of India
• Chief Minister of Kerala

External links

• Governors of Kerala

Notes

References

1. Durga Das Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India. 1960. 20th edition, 2011 reprint. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. ISBN 978-81-8038-559-9. p. 237, 241–44. Note: although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Kerala as well.