Thiruvananthapuram | Om Prakash Mathur was sworn in as the 29th Governor of Keralam at a ceremony held at Lok Bhavan here on Friday, officials said.
Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court Justice Soumen Sen administered the oath of office to Mathur.
Chief Minister V D Satheesan and other cabinet ministers attended the ceremony.
Leaders from various political parties were also present at the event. However, leaders from the key opposition front, LDF, did not participate.
The ceremony started with the band playing the full version of the national song Vande Mataram and the national anthem.
Before the swearing-in ceremony, the appointment order issued by President Droupadi Murmu was read out. Later, Mathur took the oath in Hindi and assumed office.
The ceremony concluded with the band playing the full version of the national song Vande Mataram, followed by the national anthem.
The event lasted over 10 minutes.
Governor also interacted with some of the dignitaries who attended the event.
Mathur hails from Bedal village in Bali tehsil of Pali district in Rajasthan. He graduated from Rajasthan University and entered public life as an RSS pracharak.
He subsequently served as BJP general secretary in charge of Gujarat and as a Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan.
Mathur succeeds Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, who has been appointed Governor of Tamil Nadu.
Mathur's appointment is being closely watched, as both the previous LDF government and the current UDF government had differences with the previous governors, particularly over administration of universities in Keralam.
The governor is also the Chancellor of the state's universities, with the authority to make decisions regarding the administration of these institutions.
The appointment of vice-chancellors and senior officials in universities by previous governors had triggered a political row, with the issues dragged to the courts.
Both the LDF and the UDF have alleged that people associated with the BJP and RSS were appointed to key positions in universities in the state.