Taranjit Singh Sandhu To Take Oath As Delhi’s 23rd Lieutenant Governor Today

Newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, will take the oath of office and secrecy on Wednesday.

The swearing-in ceremony will take place at Lok Niwas at 1:30 PM, where the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court will administer the oath, formally appointing him as the 23rd Lieutenant Governor of the national capital.

Outgoing Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena will serve as the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh and is likely to assume charge on Friday.

Sandhu is a former Indian diplomat who served as India’s Ambassador to the United States from February 2020 to January 31, 2024.

A member of the Indian Foreign Service since 1988, he played a key role in opening the Indian Embassy in Ukraine and also headed the political and administrative wing at the mission administrative. His career spans more than three-and-a-half decades.

Sandhu held several key diplomatic roles, including First Secretary at the Indian Embassy in Washington, Consul General of India in Frankfurt, and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India in Washington, DC.

After retiring from the Indian Foreign Service, Sandhu joined the Bharatiya Janata Party months before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The party fielded him as its candidate from Amritsar against Gurjit Singh Aujla of the Indian National Congress.

Sandhu completed his Bachelor of Arts from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi and later earned a Master of Arts degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

According to a statement from Rashtrapati Bhavan, the appointment of Vinai Kumar Saxena as Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh comes in place of Kavinder Gupta, who has been named Governor of Himachal Pradesh.

The appointments will take effect from the dates the officials assume charge of their respective offices.