The governor of Karnataka, formerly governor of Mysore, is the constitutional head of the Indian state of Karnataka. 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 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 Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, who was the state's Rajpramukh from 1950 to 1956. 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 was the first and only woman governor of Karnataka (1999–2002) and also holds the record of first woman chief election commissioner in india.
List
;Legend
- Died in office
- Transferred
- Resigned/removed
;Color key
- indicates acting/additional charge
Governor of Mysore State (19561973)
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; border:1px #aaf solid;"
! rowspan="2"| #
! rowspan="2" class="unsortable"| Portrait
! rowspan="2" style="width:14em" | Name<br><small>(borndied)</small>
! rowspan="2" style="width:7em" | Home state
! colspan="3"| Tenure in office
! rowspan="2" style="width:7em" | Appointer<br/>(President)
|-
! style="width:7em"| From
! style="width:7em"| To
! style="width:5em"| Time in office
|-
! 1
| 70px
| <br/>Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar<br/>
| Mysore State
| <br/>1956
| <br/>1964
|
| Rajendra Prasad
|-
! 2
| 70px
| <br/>S. M. Shrinagesh
| Maharashtra
| <br/>1964
| <br/>1965
|
| rowspan="2"| Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
|-
! 3
| 70px
| V. V. Giri<br/>
| Madras
| <br/>1965
| <br/>1967
|
|-
! 4
| 70px
| Gopal Swarup Pathak<br/>
| Uttar Pradesh
| <br/>1967
| <br/>1969
|
| Zakir Husain
|-
!
| bgcolor="wheat"| 70px<!-- Do not use placeholder images per WP:IPH -->
| bgcolor="wheat"| <br/>A. R. Somanath Iyer<br/><br/>(Acting)
| bgcolor="wheat"| Mysore State
| bgcolor="wheat"| <br/>1969
| bgcolor="wheat"| <br/>1969
| bgcolor="wheat"|
| rowspan="3"| V. V. Giri
|-
! 5
| 70px
| Dharma Vira<br/>
| Uttar Pradesh
| <br/>1969
| <br/>1972
|
|-
! 6
| 70px
| Mohan Lal Sukhadia<br/>
| Rajasthan
| <br/>1972
| <br/>1973
|
|-
|}
Governor of Karnataka (1973present)
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; border:1px #aaf solid;"
! rowspan="2"| #
! rowspan="2" class="unsortable"| Portrait
! rowspan="2" style="width:14em" | Name<br><small>(borndied)</small>
! rowspan="2" style="width:7em" | Home state
! colspan="3"| Tenure in office
! rowspan="2" style="width:7em" | Appointer<br/>(President)
|-
! style="width:7em"| From
! style="width:7em"| To
! style="width:5em"| Time in office
|-
! 1
| 70px
| Mohan Lal Sukhadia<br/>
| Rajasthan
| <br/>1973
| <br/>1976
|
| V. V. Giri
|-
! 2
| 70px
| Uma Shankar Dikshit<br/>
| Uttar Pradesh
| <br/>1976
| <br/>1977
|
| Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
|-
! 3
| 70px<!-- Do not use placeholder images per WP:IPH -->
| Govind Narain<br/>
| Uttar Pradesh
| <br/>1977
| <br/>1983
|
| Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
|-
! 4
| 70px<!-- Do not use placeholder images per WP:IPH -->
| Ashoknath Banerji<br/>
| West Bengal
| <br/>1983
| <br/>1988
|
| Zail Singh
|-
! 5
| 70px
| Pendekanti Venkatasubbaiah<br/>
| Andhra Pradesh
| <br/>1988
| <br/>1990
|
| rowspan="4" | Ramaswamy Venkataraman
|- bgcolor="wheat"
! 6
| 70px<!-- Do not use placeholder images per WP:IPH -->
| <br/>Shanmughasundaram Mohan<br/><br/><small>(Acting)</small>
| Tamil Nadu
| <br/>1990
| <br/>1990
|
|-
! 7
| 70px
| Bhanu Pratap Singh<br/>
| Uttar Pradesh
| <br/>1990
| <br/>1991
|
|-
! 8
|70px
|Khurshed Alam Khan<br/>
|Uttar Pradesh
| <br />1991
| <br />1999
|
|-
! 9
| 70px
| V. S. Ramadevi<br />
| Andhra Pradesh
| <br />1999
| <br />2002
|
| rowspan="2" | K. R. Narayanan
|-
! 10
| 70px
| T. N. Chaturvedi<br />
| Uttar Pradesh
| <br />2002
| <br />2007
|
|-
! 11
| 70px
| Rameshwar Thakur<br />
| Jharkhand
| <br />2007
| <br />2009
|
| rowspan="2" | Pratibha Patil
|-
! 12
| 70px
| H. R. Bhardwaj<br />
| Punjab
| <br />2009
| <br />2014
|
|-
! 13
| bgcolor="wheat" | 70px
| bgcolor="wheat" | Konijeti Rosaiah<br /><br /><small>(Additional Charge)</small>
| bgcolor="wheat" | Andhra Pradesh
| bgcolor="wheat" | <br />2014
| bgcolor="wheat" | <br />2014
| bgcolor="wheat" |
| rowspan="2" | Pranab Mukherjee
|-
! 14
| 96x96px
| Vajubhai Vala<br />
| Gujarat
| <br />2014
| <br />2021
|
|-
! 15
| 70px
| Thawar Chand Gehlot<br />
| Madhya Pradesh
| <br />2021
| Incumbent
|
| Ram Nath Kovind
|-
|}
== Oath == emba naanú, Devara hesarinalli pramana maaduttene enendra, naanú dhrudhavagi matthu nishtha-purvakavagi ____ (State Name, e.g., Karnataka) rajyada raajyapala huddethiya karthavyagalannú shraddheyinda nirvahisuttene matthu nanna purna samarthyadinda samvidhana matthu kanoonannú kapaduttene, samrakshisuttene matthu rakshisuttene haagú naanú ____ (State Name) rajyada janara seve matthu kalyanakkagi nannannú naanu samarpisikolluttene."
References
External links
- [https://www.karnataka.com/govt/governor/]
- Succession of Governors
- Karnataka Raj Bhavan Website