Anandiben Patel appointed as Governor Madhya Pradesh

President Ramnath Kovind has appointed former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel as Governor of Madhya Pradesh. She will replace Gujarat governor Om Prakash Kohli who is holding additional charge of office of Governor of Madhya Pradesh.

Anandiben Patel

Born: November 21, 1941
Career Profile: She is former school teacher, a gold-medalist in MSc and also winner of President’s Medal.
She was elected to Rajya Sabha in 1994. She was the cabinet minister for education in the BJP-led government in Gujarat from 2002 to 2007.
She also had held important portfolios of urban development, revenue and disaster management and was earlier in charge of education ministry, steering successfully some of key projects of then CM Narendra Modi, including one for boosting female literacy.
She had succeeded Narendra Modi as first woman chief minister of Gujarat, when he was elected as Prime Minister of India following BJP’s victory in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. She had resigned from post of CM in 2016.

Constitutional provisions of Governor

Governor is constitutional head of state.
Article 153: It says that there shall be Governor for each state. 7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956 facilitated the appointment of the same person as a governor for two or more states.
Article 156: Governor is appointed by President and hold office during the pleasure of President. It should be also noted that this article also mentions tenure of Governor. In this regard it says that Governor shall hold office for the term of 5 years from date he enters upon his office.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2018