The President gives Jharkhand Governor additional charges of Telangana

On 19 March 2024, the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, gave the additional charge of Telangana Governor and the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry to the  

Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan. The incumbent Governor of Telangana and the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, Tamilisai Soundararajan, resigned and submitted her resignation letter to the President on  18 March 2024. Tamilisai Soundararajan is likely to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

President Droupadi Murmu later accepted Soundararajan's resignation and gave the additional charge to CP Radhakrishnan.

Tamilisai Soundararajan

Before being appointed as the Governor of Telangana, Tamilisai Soundararajan was the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ( BJP) Tamil Nadu unit for five years.

Soundararajan was later made the Governor of  Telangana in November 2019 and was later given additional charge as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.

She contested the last Lok Sabha elections held in 2019 as a BJP candidate from Thoothukudi but lost to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) Kanimozhi.

Tamil Nadu has 39 Lok Sabha seats, 7 of which are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The 2024 Lok Sabha election will be held on 19 April in all 39 constituencies.

In the 2019 elections, the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance won all 39 seats in the state.

Constitution and the State Governor 

• The Governor is the head of the government at the state level.
•  Article 153 of the Indian constitution provides for a Governor in every state of India. 
• The 7th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1956  provides for appointing a person as Governor of two or more states.

Appointment and Tenure of Governor 

• The President of India appoints the state Governor. The normal term of a Governor is five years, but the Governor holds the office at the pleasure of the President. 
• This means that the president can remove the governor from office at any time.
• The Governor can also vacate office by submitting his/her resignation to the President.

Qualification to be a Governor 

The person to be appointed as the Governor of a state shall have the following qualifications. They shall be :

• A citizen of India and at least 35 years of age.
• Not hold any office of profit. 
• Not be a member of the Parliament or the State legislature.

A person can be appointed as Governor more than once.

Lieutenant Governor or Administrator in Union Territory

• The President is the head of the Union Territories. The President appoints an administrator to carry out the administrative duties in these Union Territories.
• The administrators of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Andaman and Nicobar, and Puducherry are called Lieutenant Governors.
• For the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, and Lakshadweep, they are called Administrators.