| Post: | Governor of Kerala |
| Insignia: | Government of Kerala Logo.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 120px |
| Insigniacaption: | Emblem of Kerala |
| Incumbent: | Arif Mohammad Khan |
| Style: | The Honourable, His Excellency |
| Residence: | Raj Bhavan, Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram |
| Termlength: | Five years |
| Appointer: | President of India |
The governor of Kerala is the constitutional head of state of the southern Indian state of Kerala. The governor is appointed by the President of India for a term of five years and holds office at the President's pleasure. The governor is de jure head of the government of Kerala; all its executive actions are taken in the governor's name. The elected council of ministers is headed by the chief minister of Kerala, who thus holds de facto executive authority in the state. The Constitution of India also empowers the governor to act upon their own discretion, such as the ability to appoint or dismiss a ministry, recommend President's rule, or reserve bills for the president's assent.[1]
Since 6 September 2019, Arif Mohammad Khan, is the governor of Kerala.
| bgcolor=wheat | Indicates interim |
| Name | Portrait | Took office | Left office | Duration | Home State | Appointed by | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor=wheat | _ | bgcolor=wheat | P. S. Rao | bgcolor=wheat | bgcolor=wheat | 1 November 1956 | bgcolor=wheat | 21 November 1956 | bgcolor=wheat | bgcolor=wheat | Not Known | Rajendra Prasad | ||
| 1. | Burgula Ramakrishna Rao | 22 November 1956 | 1 July 1960 | Andhra Pradesh | ||||||||||
| 2. | V. V. Giri | 1 July 1960 | 2 April 1965 | Odisha | ||||||||||
| 3. | Ajith Prasad Jain | 2 April 1965 | 6 February 1966 | Uttar Pradesh | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | |||||||||
| 4. | Bhagwan Sahay | 6 February 1966 | 15 May 1967 | |||||||||||
| 5. | V. Viswanathan | 15 May 1967 | 1 April 1973 | Kerala | Zakir Husain | |||||||||
| 6. | N. N. Wanchoo | 1 April 1973 | 10 October 1977 | Madhya Pradesh | V. V. Giri | |||||||||
| 7. | Jothi Venkatachalam | 14 October 1977 | 27 October 1982 | Tamil Nadu | Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy | |||||||||
| 8. | P. Ramachandran | 27 October 1982 | 23 February 1988 | Zail Singh | ||||||||||
| 9. | Ram Dulari Sinha | 23 February 1988 | 12 February 1990 | Bihar | R. Venkataraman | |||||||||
| 10. | Sarup Singh | 12 February 1990 | 20 December 1990 | Haryana | ||||||||||
| 11. | B. Rachaiah | 20 December 1990 | 9 November 1995 | Karnataka | ||||||||||
| bgcolor=wheat | _ | bgcolor=wheat | Gopal Ramanujam | bgcolor=wheat | bgcolor=wheat | 20 April 1995 | bgcolor=wheat | 29 April 1995 | bgcolor=wheat | bgcolor=wheat | Tamil Nadu | Shankar Dayal Sharma | ||
| 12. | P. Shiv Shankar | 12 November 1995 | 1 May 1996 | Andhra Pradesh | ||||||||||
| 13. | Khurshid Alam Khan | 5 May 1996 | 25 January 1997 | Uttar Pradesh | ||||||||||
| 14. | Justice Sukhdev Singh Kang | 25 January 1997 | 29 February 2000 | Punjab | ||||||||||
| bgcolor=wheat | _ | bgcolor=wheat | C. Rangarajan | bgcolor=wheat | bgcolor=wheat | 29 February 2000 | bgcolor=wheat | 23 April 2000 | bgcolor =wheat | bgcolor=wheat | Tamil Nadu | K. R. Narayan | ||
| (14). | Justice Sukhdev Singh Kang | 23 April 2000 | 19 October 2000 | Punjab | ||||||||||
| bgcolor=wheat | _ | bgcolor=wheat | C. Rangarajan | bgcolor=wheat | bgcolor=wheat | 19 October 2000 | bgcolor=wheat | 7 November 2000 | bgcolor =wheat | bgcolor=wheat | Tamil Nadu | |||
| (14). | Justice Sukhdev Singh Kang | 7 November 2000 | 14 September 2001 | Punjab | ||||||||||
| bgcolor=wheat | — | bgcolor=wheat | Mohammed Fazal | bgcolor=wheat | bgcolor=wheat | 14 September 2001 | bgcolor=wheat | 28 September 2001 | bgcolor =wheat | bgcolor=wheat | Uttar Pradesh | |||
| (14). | Justice Sukhdev Singh Kang | 28 September 2001 | 16 February 2002 | Punjab | ||||||||||
| bgcolor=wheat | _ | bgcolor=wheat | C. Rangarajan | bgcolor=wheat | bgcolor=wheat | 16 February 2002 | bgcolor=wheat | 28 February 2002 | bgcolor =wheat | bgcolor=wheat | Tamil Nadu | |||
| (14). | Justice Sukhdev Singh Kang | 28 February 2002 | 18 April 2002 | Punjab | ||||||||||
| 15. | Sikander Bakht | 18 April 2002 | 23 February 2004 | Delhi | ||||||||||
| bgcolor=wheat | _ | bgcolor=wheat | T. N. Chaturvedi | bgcolor=wheat | bgcolor=wheat | 25 February 2004 | bgcolor=wheat | 23 June 2004 | bgcolor=wheat | bgcolor=wheat | Uttar Pradesh | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam | ||
| 16. | R. L. Bhatia | 23 June 2004 | 10 July 2008 | Punjab | ||||||||||
| 17. | R. S. Gavai | 11 July 2008 | 7 September 2011 | Maharashtra | Pratibha Patil | |||||||||
| 18. | M. O. H. Farook | 8 September 2011 | 26 January 2012 | Puducherry | ||||||||||
| bgcolor=wheat | — | bgcolor=wheat | Hansraj Bhardwaj | bgcolor=wheat | bgcolor=wheat | 26 January 2012 | bgcolor=wheat | 22 March 2013 | bgcolor=wheat | bgcolor=wheat | Haryana | |||
| 19. | 23 March 2013 | 5 March 2014 | Bihar | Pranab Mukherjee | ||||||||||
| 20. | Sheila Dikshit | 5 March 2014 | 5 September 2014 | Delhi | ||||||||||
| 21. | P. Sathasivam | 5 September 2014 | 5 September 2019 | Tamil Nadu | ||||||||||
| 22. | Arif Mohammad Khan | 6 September 2019 | Incumbent | Uttar Pradesh | Ramnath Kovind | |||||||||