Congress leaders Balram Jakhar and R L Bhatia were on Thursday appointed governors of Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, respectively.
The appointments will take effect from the dates they assume charge of their offices, a Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué said.
Jakhar, a former Lok Sabha speaker, had lost the recent Lok Sabha election from Sikar, Rajasthan, while Bhatia lost to last-minute Bharatiya Janata Party entrant and cricketer-turned-commentator Navjot Singh Sidhu in Amritsar.
Jakhar, 81, was agriculture minister in the Narasimha Rao government.
Bhatia, 83, was minister of state for external affairs from 1992 to 1996. He was elected to the Lok Sabha five times.
Governors and senior BJP leaders R P Gupta (Madhya Pradesh) and Sikander Bakht (Kerala), appointed by the National Democratic Alliance, died while in office.
