Banwarilal Purohit (born 16 April 1940) is an Indian politician who is the current and 14th Governor of Tamil Nadu. Having been appointed as the Governor of Tamil Nadu on 30 September 2017, he assumed office on October 6, 2017. He was appointed as Governor of Assam State by President of India on 17 August 2016. He was a Member of Parliament from the Nagpur (Lok Sabha constituency) three times, twice as an Indian National Congress member, once as a BJP member.

Later he joined Congress. After Indira Gandhi split Congress Party and formed Congress (Indira), Purohit was elected as MLA from Nagpur East constituency in 1978, contesting as member of Congress, and he was re-elected in 1980 from Nagpur South and became a Minister of State for Urban Development, Slum Improvement and Housing in 1982.

In 1984, he was elected to the 8th Lok Sabha as member of Congress Party. He was re-elected in 1989 on Congress ticket.

Later he joined Bharatiya Janata Party when it launched a movement to build Ram Temple in Ayodhya and contested Lok Sabha elections in 1991 as the party's candidate. But he lost to Datta Meghe of Indian National Congress. In 1996, he was elected to 11th Lok Sabha as BJP's candidate.

In 1999, he quit the Bharatiya Janata Party to join the Indian National Congress after he developed serious differences with Pramod Mahajan. He contested the Lok Sabha elections from Ramtek in 1999 but lost.

In 2003, he launched his own party called Vidarbha Rajya Party and contested the Lok Sabha elections from Nagpur in 2004.

In 2009 he again contested on BJP's ticket but lost the election to Vilas Muttemwar of Indian National Congress.

On 2 August 2020, Purohit tested positive for COVID-19.

In August 2016, Purohit was appointed as Governor of Assam by replacing Padmanabha Acharya who had additional in-charge of Assam.

On 30 September 2017 he was appointed as Governor of Tamil Nadu by President Ram Nath Kovind. It was the first time that the state has got a full time governor after K Rosaiah retired in August 2016.