Sudha Yadav governor of Karnataka: new governors list 2026 for Odisha, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Sikkim

Short answer: yes, Sudha Yadav is the new Governor of Karnataka. She was one of six gubernatorial changes that President Droupadi Murmu made on Monday, 12 October 2026. A press communique from the President's Secretariat said the appointments take effect from the dates the appointees assume charge (Akashvani, The Economic Times).

New governors list 2026: who goes where

Sources: Akashvani and The Economic Times for the appointments; The Hindu for who held each post; Sambad English and PTI for Odisha. Look up any of the six states in our old vs new governor lookup.

Who is Sudha Yadav, the new Karnataka governor

According to The Hindu, Dr Sudha Yadav:

• is a senior BJP leader from Haryana and was Lok Sabha MP for Mahendragarh from 1999 to 2004;
• served on the BJP Parliamentary Board, the party's highest decision-making body, from August 2022;
• was earlier a member of the National Commission for Backward Classes;
• holds a postgraduate degree in chemistry and a PhD from IIT Roorkee;
• is the widow of Deputy Commandant Sukhbir Singh Yadav, who was killed in the Kargil war.

She will be Karnataka's second woman governor, after V.S. Rama Devi (1999–2002). Thaawarchand Gehlot had been governor since 21 July 2021 (The Hindu).

The other five

Braj Mohan Ram, Odisha. A BJP leader from Jharkhand, he won Palamu in the Lok Sabha in 1996, 1998 and 1999, and was a Bihar MLA from 1991 to 1995 (Sambad English, OrissaPOST). Sambad reports he will be Odisha's 38th governor. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi congratulated him on X (PTI).

Om Prakash Mathur, Kerala. He was Governor of Sikkim and now moves to Kerala, which the communique and Akashvani call Keralam.

Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, Tamil Nadu. He was Governor of Kerala and had also been holding additional charge of Tamil Nadu; he now becomes Tamil Nadu's full-time governor (The Hindu).

Dr Dhal Singh Bisen, Uttarakhand. A former MP from Madhya Pradesh and an ex-minister in the state government, he replaces Lt Gen (retd) Gurmit Singh, whose five-year tenure ended in September (The Hindu). The Hindu describes Uttarakhand as poll-going.

Dushyant Gautam, Sikkim. A former Rajya Sabha member who served as BJP national general secretary under J.P. Nadda (The Hindu).

What happens next

A new governor is sworn in by the Chief Justice of the state's High Court (or the senior-most judge available), under Article 159 of the Constitution. No swearing-in dates had been announced when we checked on the morning of 13 October. Until then, the current governors stay in office.