President Droupadi Murmu appointed Governors for six states on Monday, 12 October 2026. Two serving Governors have been moved to other states and four people have been named Governor for the first time, according to News On AIR, the public broadcaster's news service. The changes were announced in a communique from Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The six states are Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.
The full list
| State | New Governor | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Tamil Nadu | Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar | Moved from Kerala |
| Kerala | Om Prakash Mathur | Moved from Sikkim |
| Karnataka | Dr Sudha Yadav | New appointment |
| Odisha | Braj Mohan Ram | New appointment |
| Uttarakhand | Dr Dhal Singh Bisen | New appointment |
| Sikkim | Dushyant Gautam | New appointment |
When they take over
No dates have been fixed in the announcement. The appointments take effect from the dates on which the appointees assume charge of their offices. Each state's Raj Bhavan will announce the swearing-in date.
Tamil Nadu gets a full-time Governor
For Tamil Nadu, the order ends a stop-gap arrangement. Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, the Governor of Kerala, has been holding additional charge of Tamil Nadu since March 2026, when R N Ravi was appointed Governor of West Bengal, News24 and The Sunday Guardian reported. He now becomes the state's regular Governor and leaves the Kerala post.
Mr Arlekar was Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly and later served as Governor of Himachal Pradesh and of Bihar before going to Kerala.
Tamil Nadu readers can also see our report on the Prime Minister's Chennai programme of 11 October and the Poonamallee-Vadapalani Metro stretch.
Who the new Governors are
- Om Prakash Mathur (Kerala): Governor of Sikkim since July 2024 and a former Rajya Sabha member. He takes over the post Mr Arlekar leaves.
- Dr Sudha Yadav (Karnataka): a former Lok Sabha member from Mahendragarh in Haryana and a former member of the National Commission for Backward Classes. News24 reports that she will be Karnataka's second woman Governor, after V S Ramadevi, who held the post from 1999 to 2002.
- Braj Mohan Ram (Odisha): a former Lok Sabha member from Palamu in Jharkhand.
- Dr Dhal Singh Bisen (Uttarakhand): a former Lok Sabha member from Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh. He succeeds Lt Gen (Retd) Gurmit Singh.
- Dushyant Gautam (Sikkim): a former Rajya Sabha member, who takes over from Mr Mathur.
Several of the appointees have earlier held posts in the Bharatiya Janata Party, the reports note.
Who is leaving
News24 names Hari Babu Kambhampati, Thaawarchand Gehlot and Lt Gen (Retd) Gurmit Singh as the outgoing Governors. The Sunday Guardian reports that Mr Kambhampati had been Governor of Odisha since January 2025. The reports do not mention any new assignment for the three.
What a Governor does
A Governor is the constitutional head of a state and is appointed by the President under Article 155 of the Constitution. Under Article 156, a Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President, and the normal term is five years. The Governor acts on the advice of the state's Council of Ministers in most matters, gives assent to Bills passed by the state legislature, and summons the Assembly.
What happens next
The new Governors will take the oath of office in their state capitals, normally administered by the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned. Until a successor is sworn in, the present Governor continues in office.
