V.S. Ramadevi was the first female to become Chief Election Commissioner of India (from 26th November 1990 to 11th December1990). She was succeeded by T.N. Seshan. Ramadevi was the first(and to date, only) woman to serve as Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha. She served as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh from 26th July 1997 to 1st December 1999 and as the Governor of Karnataka from 2nd December 1999 to 20th August 2002.