President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday appointed Kiran Bedi Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, reported the Hindustan Times. She will take over charge from Lt Gen (retd) Ajay Kumar Singh, who has held the post since July 2014.

Bedi will be the 24th Lt Governor of the Union Territory. The 66-year-old was the first woman to join the Indian Police Services in 1971. She retired in 2007 as the Director General of the Bureau of Police Research and Development. In 2005, she contested the Delhi Assembly elections as a BJP candidate, and lost to Aam Aadmi Party's SK Bagga. She was also a part of the Anna Hazare-led India Against Corruption movement.

The Congress-DMK alliance has won the Puducherry state elections held in May.