Monday, 5 September 2011

Politics and the post of Governor

Constitution of India provides for a Governor in each state. Governor is the ceremonial head while Chief Minister is the effective head of the state government. The post of Governor was conceived as an independent and impartial Constitutional office and therefore was kept outside the purview of elections. Governor acts as a vital link between the center and the state governments. But this post of Governor has been misused badly by those at the center. Recent controversies in Karnataka, Gujarat and Bihar have flared up the issue once more. Here is a bit of analysis on the present scenario.


Indian StateGovernor NameTook OfficeBackground 
Andhra PradeshE.S.L. Narasimhan27 December 2009Civil Servant
Arunachal PradeshGeneral Joginder Jaswant Singh24 January 2008Chief of Army
AssamJanaki Ballabh Patnaik27 November 2009Congress
BiharDevanand Konwar24 July 2009Congress
ChhattisgarhShekhar Dutt, SM23 January 2010Civil Servant
GoaK. SankaranarayananAugust 2011Congress
GujaratKamla Beniwal27 November 2009Congress
HaryanaJagannath Pahadia27 July 2009Congress
Himachal PradeshUrmila Singh25 January 2010Congress
Jammu and KashmirNarinder Nath Vohra25 June 2008Civil Servant
JharkhandDr. Syed Ahmed26 august 2011Congress
KarnatakaHans Raj Bhardwaj29 June 2009Congress
KeralaM. O. Hasan Farook MaricarAugust 2011Congress
Madhya PradeshRam Naresh Yadav26 august 2011Congress
MaharashtraK. Sankaranarayanan22 January 2010Congress
ManipurGurbachan Jagat23 July 2008Civil Servant
MeghalayaRanjit Shekhar Mooshahary1 July 2008Civil Servant
MizoramShri Vakkom Purushothaman26 august 2011Congress
NagalandNikhil Kumar15 October 2009Congress
OdishaMurlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare21 August 2007Congress
PunjabShivraj Patil22 January 2010Congress
RajasthanShivraj Patil (additional charge)26 April 2010Congress
SikkimBalmiki Prasad Singh9 July 2008Civil Servant
Tamil NaduKonijeti Rosaiah26 august 2011Congress
TripuraDnyandeo Yashwantrao Patil27 November 2009Congress
UttarakhandMargaret Alva19 July 2009Congress
Uttar PradeshBanwari Lal Joshi28 July 2009Civil Servant
West BengalM.K. Narayanan24 January 2010Civil Servant

As can be seen from the data, 19 out of 28 Governors had political affiliations with the Congress in the past. No Governor had any political affiliation with any party other than the Congress. This data highlights the extent to which President (President appoints the Governor) is biased in favour of the Congress. The probable reason is - she herself was affiliated to the Congress in the past.

Sarkaria commission report on center state relations (1988) noted - "Frequent removals and transfers of Governors before the end of their tenure have lowered the prestige of this office. Criticism has been levelled that the Union governments utilises the Governors for its own political ends. Many Governors looking forward to further office under the Union or active role in politics after their tenure come to regard themselves as agents of the Union". This observation holds true even today.
Posted by at 9/05/2011 12:15:00 pm
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3 comments:

  1. Genie12 September 2011 at 18:59

    An independent appointment commission can be a way out. But the question now is, can we keep on having such commissions for every office?

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  2. Nagarjun Kota12 September 2011 at 23:49

    yeah the table needs no explanation .. wouldnt surprise me if the table for 1999-2004 had majority of the governors affiliated with JD(U), BJP and the like.

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  3. Nikhil Kumar13 September 2011 at 01:26

    @genie: i guess, appointment of Governor would be part of the basic structure of the constitution. The best way out would be moral enforcement of guidelines put forward in Sarkaria Commission report.

    @archi: luckily, the Presidents then were not affiliated to any political party.

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