Kiran Bedi has been removed as Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry and Tamilisai Soundararajan, the Governor of Telangana, has been given additional charge of the union territory.
Bedi's removal comes just ahead of the assembly polls and nearly a week after Chief Minister V Narayansamy met President Ramnath Kovind and urged him recall her.
The development also comes as the Congress government has lost its thin majority with four MLAs resigning since last month, two in the past two days.
Of the 30 elected MLAs in the assembly, Congress had 15 members and, along with the DMK's three and one independent member, was just past the majority mark of 16.