Worldwide Guide to Women in
Leadership
India Local Leaders
*Also see India Ministers
Governors
1947-49 Sarojini Chattopadhyaya Naidu, Uttar Pradesh
She was leading member of the Congress. Lived (1879-1949)
1956-57 Padmaja Naidu Mukherjee, West Bengal
She was daughter of Savorjini Naidu. Lived (1900-75)
1963-64 Vijaya L. Pandit, Maharastra
She was sister of Premier Pandit Nehru.Also ambassador and President of the
UN General Assembly. Lived (1900-90)
1977-83 Jyoti Venkatachalam, Kerala
1977 Sharada Mukherjee, Andra Pradesh
1978-84 Governor of Gujarat
1985-90 Kumudben Joshi, Andra Pradesh
1988-90 Ram Dulari Sinha, Kerala
1989-90 Serla Grewal, Madhyra Pradesh
1991-91 Chandrawati, Pondicherry (Union Territory) (Lieutenant Governor)
1995-98 Rajendra Kumari Bajapi, Pondicherry (Lieutenant Governor)
She lived (1925-99)
1995-98 Sheila Kaul, Himshal Pradesh
She lived (1915-2015).
1997-2001 M.S. Fatima Beeri, Tamil Nadu
1997-99 V.S. Ramadevi, Himashal Pradesh
1999-2002 Governor of Karnataka
1998-2002 Dr. Jajani Rai, Pondicheery (Lieutenant Governor)
2004-07
Pratibha Patil,
Rajastan
President of India 2007-12.
2008-10 Governor
Prabha Rau, Himachal Pradesh (India)
2009-10 Acting Governor of Rajesthan
2010 Governor of Rajesthan
From December 2009-January 2010 she was Acting Governor of
Rajasthan, following the death of her predecessor. She lived (1935-2010).
2009-12 Margaret Alva, Uttarakhand
2012-14 Governor of Rajasthan
2014 Additional Charge of Gujarat
2014
Additional Charge of Goa
MP 1974-2004. Member of the Panel of Vice-Chairmen of Lok
Sabha 1983-85 and 1999-2009, Minister of State of Parliamentary Affairs 1984-85,
Minister of State for Youth Affairs, Sports, Women and Child Development
19856-89, Minister of State with independent charge of Personnel, Public
Grievances and Pensions 1991 and 1993-96 and also Minister of State of
Parliamentary Affairs 1993-96, Deputy Chief Whip of the Congress Party 1993-95
and Party Secretary General and in charge of Party Affairs in several provinces
until 2008. Daughter-in-law of Violet Alva. (b. 1944-)
2009
Dr. Kamla Beniwal, Tripura
2009-14 Governor of Gujarat
2014 Governor of Mizoram
Since 1954 she held a number of ministerial posts in Rajasthan, including Minister of Irrigation
and Revenue and Deputy Chief Minister in 2003. (b. 1927-).
2010-15 Urmila Singh, Himachal Pradesh
2014 Sheila
Dikshit, Kerala
Former Union Minister and Chief Minister of Delhi 1998-2013.
2014- Mridula Sinha, Goa
Author and BJP party
official. (b. 1942-)
2016- Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi, Puducherry
Director General of Police Director General of Police 1972–2007 and BJP
Candidate for Chief Minister of Delhi in 2015. The Union Territory was
previously known as Pondicherry. (b. 1948-)
2016- Governor Najma Heptulla, Manipur
Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha 1985-86 and 1988-2004,
President of Inter-Parliamentary Union 1999-2002 and Union Minister of Minority
Affairs 2014-16. (b. 1940-).
Chief Ministers
1935-49 Vice-President of the State-Council Princess Abida Sultaan of Bhopal, Bhopal
1960 Titular 18th Nawwab Begum Regnant of Bhopal
She succeded to the title after the death of her father, HH Sikander Savlat
Ifrikar il-Mulk Haji Sir Muhammad Hamidullah Khan Badur, but relinguished it in
favour of a sister, and lived (1913-2002)
She lived (1908-74)
1972-73 Nadini Satpathy, Orissa
1974-76 Chief Minister
Also Union Minister of Information.
She lived (1931-2006).
1973-79 Shashikala G. Kakodkar, Goa, Daman and Diu
1980-81 Anwara Sayeda Taimur, Assam
1987-88 V.V. Janaki Ramachandra, Tamil Nadu
She lived (1923-96)
1991-96, 2001, 2002-2006, 2011-14
and 2015-16 (†) J. Jayalalithaa Jayaram, Tamil Nadu
In 2015 she had to vacate her
office after she was sentenced for 4 years in jail for corruption, but returned
the following year.
1995, 1997, 2002-03 and 2007- Mayawati, Uttar Pradesh
Vice-President of Bahujan Samaja Party 1995-2002 and Party Leader from 2002.
1996-97 Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Punjab
2004- Deputy Chief Minister
1997-99, 1999
and 2000-05 Rabri Devi, Bihar
1998 Sushma Swaraj, Delhi
Former and later Union Minister
1998-2013 Sheila Dixit, Delhi
Sheila 1986-89 is a former
Union Minister and Governor of Kerala from 2014.
2003-08
and 2013- Vasundhra Raje,
Rajastan
Former Union Minister
2003-04 Uma Bharati,
Madhyra Pradesh
Former Union Minister and a leader of the BJP-Party.
2011- Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal
Leader of the
Trimaul Congress Party from 1998
and former Union Minister. (b. 1955-)
2014-16 Anandiben Patel, Gujarat
Elected Union MP for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1994, Minister of State in
Gujarat in 1997, Minister of Education, Higher and Technical Education, Women
and Child Welfare, Sports, Youth and Cultural Activities 1998-2007 and
Minister of Road and Building, Revenue, Urban development and Urban Housing,
Disaster Management and Capital Projects 2007-14. (b. 1941-)
2016- Mehbooba Mufti, Jammu and Kashmir
Leader
of the Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party in the Lok Sabha 2014-16 and
Party Leader from 2016. (b. 1959-)
2017 Designate V. K. Sasikala, Tamil Naidu
Party official and
close aide of the late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa since the 1980s. Became
General Secretary of AIADMK in 2016 and Party Leader in the state in 2017, but
was barred from taking office after being convicted of corruption. She
is also known as Vivekanandan Krishnaveni Sasikala or Sasikala Natarajan. Her
parents are Vivekanandan and Krishnaveni and her husband M. Natarajan. (b.
1957-)
Parliaments
1951 and 1962-66
Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly Shano Devi, Punjab
1955-56 Speaker of the Legislature Ammal Lakshimi Pathi, Madras
India's first female deputy speaker was also in Madras, Dr. Muthulakhimi Reddi,
1929-33.
1955-56 Speaker of the Assembly Sushila Nayyar, Delhi
1985-90 Speaker of Vidhan Sabha (Asembly) Vidya Stokes, Himachal Pradesh
1999-2004 Speaker of the Assembly
K. Pratibha Bharati, Andra Pradesh
She was Minister of Social Welfare 1983, 1985 and 1994 and 1998 of Higher
Education.
1999-2005 Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Kalawati Subba, Sikkim
From 2005 Minister in the government.
2003-09 Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Sumitra Singh,
Rajesthan
MLA 1957-80, 1985-92 and 1998-2009, Minister of State 1967-71 and
Minister of Energy 1990. (b 1930-).
Mayors
1958
2007-09 Arti Mehra, New Delhi
The other main candidate was Ms.
Meera Aggarwal
Other
1946 Minister of Health
Rukmini Laxmipathi, Madras
Member of the Congress Pararty from 1923, she was member of the Madras
Legislative Assembly from 1937. Lived (1892-1951)
Last update 17.07.17