Satya Pal Malik was on Thursday sworn-in as the new Governor of Jammu and Kashmir replacing NN Vohra. J&K High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal administered the oath of office to him at a function in Srinagar’s Raj Bhawan.
Former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Union Minister of State in the PMO Jitendera Singh were among those who attended the swearing-in ceremony. Judges of the high court, legislators, top officers of the Army, BSF, CRPF, police and civil administration were also in attendance.
Outgoing Governor NN Vohra was conspicuous by his absence at the ceremony.
Satya Pal Malik, a former socialist leader from Uttar Pradesh, was in the Congress before he joined the BJP in 2014.
He is the first career politician to become Governor of J-K.
Dr Karan Singh, son of the last ruler of the state Maharaja Hari Singh, occupied the Raj Bhawan between 1965 and 1967, but he had not joined politics at that time. Thereafter, retired top Army and police officers or bureaucrats have been appointed governors of the state.
NN Vohra has been the longest-serving governor of J-K so far. He was appointed Governor of J-K in 2008 during the famous Amarnath shrine land agitation, and has occupied the office for two terms of five years each. His last tenure completed on 28 June this year.