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The people’s newsroom

StatesKeralam

Om Prakash Mathur sworn in as Keralam's 29th Governor

Chief Justice Soumen Sen administered the oath at Lok Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram, with Chief Minister V D Satheesan and Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan in the audience.

From the editorial desk · ThiruvananthapuramPublished
Om Prakash Mathur (file photo)
Om Prakash Mathur (file photo)Photo: Raj Bhavan Sikkim / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Key points

  1. Om Prakash Mathur took the oath in Hindi at about 12:30 pm on Friday.
  2. He succeeds Rajendra Arlekar, who has moved to Tamil Nadu.
  3. Mathur was Governor of Sikkim from July 2024.

Om Prakash Mathur was sworn in as the 29th Governor of Keralam on Friday at a ceremony at the Lok Bhavan auditorium in Thiruvananthapuram.

Chief Justice Soumen Sen of the High Court administered the oath at about 12:30 pm, after the appointment order issued by President Droupadi Murmu was read out. Mathur took the oath in Hindi. Chief Minister V D Satheesan, Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan, ministers and senior officials attended, and a reception followed at Lok Bhavan. Before taking charge, the new Governor visited the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

Mathur reached the capital on Thursday, when Satheesan led the welcome at the airport along with the Chief Secretary, Thiruvananthapuram Mayor V V Rajesh and senior police officers.

He succeeds Rajendra Arlekar, who was named Governor of Tamil Nadu when the President reshuffled governors in six states on 12 October. Mathur himself had been Governor of Sikkim since July 2024.

Born in Bedal village in Bali tehsil of Rajasthan’s Pali district, Mathur began public life as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh pracharak in 1972. He went on to hold several posts in the BJP, including president of its Rajasthan unit, represented Rajasthan in the Rajya Sabha and was in charge of the party’s organisation in Gujarat.

The state government gave Arlekar an official farewell, at which Satheesan presented him a memento and spoke of the warm relationship between the outgoing Governor and the government. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said Arlekar had always sought close coordination with the state. Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and other ministers were present.