In the Republic of India, a lieutenant governor is the constitutional head of five of the eight union territories. The lieutenant governor is appointed by the President of India for a term of five years, and holds office at the President's pleasure. Since the union territories of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry have a measure of self-government with an elected legislature and council of ministers, the role of the lieutenant governor there is mostly a ceremonial one, akin to that of a state's governor. In Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Ladakh however, the lieutenant governor holds more power, being both the head of state and head of government.
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The other three union territories—Chandigarh; Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu; and Lakshadweep—are governed by an administrator. Unlike the lieutenant governors of other territories, they are usually drawn from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) or Indian Police Service (IPS). Since 1985 the Governor of Punjab has also been the ex-officio Administrator of Chandigarh.
Chandrawati was the first woman to become the lieutenant governor of an Indian union territory, Kiran Bedi is the longest-serving female lieutenant governor with almost 5 years tenure. Tamilisai Soundararajan is the only woman to serve both as a lieutenant governor and governor.
As of 29 June 2024, no woman has served as the administrator of the three union territories. Till date all of the female lieutenant governors have been appointed only to Puducherry.
