List of presidents of India

The President of India is the head of state of India and the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. The president is referred to as the first citizen of India.[1][2] Although vested with these powers by the Constitution of India, the position is largely a ceremonial one and executive powers are de facto exercised by the prime minister.[3]

India
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
India
 India portal

The president is elected by the Electoral College composed of elected members of the parliament houses, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and also members of the Vidhan Sabha, the state legislative assemblies.[2] Presidents may remain in office for a tenure of five years, as stated by article 56, part V, of the Constitution of India. In the case where a president's term of office is terminated early or during the absence of the president, the vice president assumes office. By article 70 of part V, the parliament may decide how to discharge the functions of the president where this is not possible, or in any other unexpected contingency.[2]

Representation of presidents by party of candidacy

  Independent (29.6%)
  Indian National Congress (41.2%)
  Bharatiya Janata Party (5.8%)
  Janata Party (5.8%)
  Acting (17.6%)

There have been 14 presidents of India since the post was established when India was declared as a republic with the adoption of the Indian constitution in 1950.[4] Apart from these fourteen, three acting presidents have also been in office for short periods of time. Varahagiri Venkata Giri became the acting president in 1969 after Zakir Husain, died in office. Giri was elected president a few months later. He remains the only person to have held office both as a president and acting president.[5] Rajendra Prasad, the first president of India, is the only person to have held office for two terms.[6]

Presidents by state of birth[7]

Seven presidents have been members of a political party before being elected. Six of these were active party members of the Indian National Congress. The Janata Party has had one member, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, who later became president. Two presidents, Zakir Husain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, have died in office. Their vice presidents served as acting presidents until a new president was elected. Following Zakir Husain's death, two acting presidents held office until the new president, V. V. Giri, was elected. When Giri resigned to take part in the presidential elections, he was succeeded by Mohammad Hidayatullah as acting president.[8] The 12th president, Pratibha Patil, is the first woman to hold the office, elected in 2007.[9]

On 25 July 2017, Ram Nath Kovind took office as the 14th president of India.[10][11]

Presidents

This list is numbered based on presidents elected after winning an Indian presidential election. The terms of Varahagiri Venkata Giri, Mohammad Hidayatullah, and Basappa Danappa Jatti, who served as acting president, are therefore not numbered or counted as actual terms in office. The president of India does not represent any political party. The colours used in the table indicate the following:

  Acting President of India (3)
  President was an Independent candidate (5)
  President was a candidate of Indian National Congress (INC) (7)
  President was a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (1)
  President was a candidate of the Janata Party (JP) (1)
No. Portrait Name
(birth–death)		 Term of office

Electoral mandates

Time in office

 Previous post Vice president Party[12] Refs
1 Rajendra Prasad
(1884–1963)		 26 January 1950 13 May 1962 President of the Constituent Assembly Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan   Indian National Congress
1950, 1952, 1957
12 years, 107 days
Prasad, from Bihar, was the first president of independent India and also the longest-serving president, as the only president to serve two or more terms in office.[6][13][14] He was also a freedom fighter during the Indian independence movement.[15]
2 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
(1888–1975)		 13 May 1962 13 May 1967 Vice President Zakir Husain   Independent
1962
5 years, 0 days
Radhakrishnan was a prominent philosopher and writer and also held the position of vice-chancellor of the Andhra University and Banaras Hindu University.[16] He received the Bharat Ratna award in 1954 before becoming the President.[17] He was the first president from South India.[18]
3
Zakir Husain
(1897–1969)		 13 May 1967 3 May 1969 Vice President Varahagiri Venkata Giri   Independent
1967
1 year, 355 days
Husain was vice-chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University and a recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna.[19] He died in office, the first to do so. He was also the shortest-serving President. He was also the first Muslim President.[20]
– Varahagiri Venkata Giri*
(1894–1980)		 3 May 1969 20 July 1969 Vice President –   –
–
78 days
He was elected Vice President of India in 1967. Following the death of President Zakir Husain, Giri was appointed as Acting President.[21] He resigned after a few months to take part in the presidential elections.[8]
– Mohammad Hidayatullah*
(1905–1992)		 20 July 1969 24 August 1969 Chief Justice –   –
–
35 days
Hidayatullah served as the Chief Justice of India and was also a recipient of the Order of the British Empire.[22] He served as Acting President until the election of Giri as the President of India.[23]
4 Varahagiri Venkata Giri
(1894–1980)		 24 August 1969 24 August 1974 Acting President Gopal Swarup Pathak   Independent
1969
5 years, 0 days
Giri was the first person to have served as both an acting president and president of India. He was a recipient of the Bharat Ratna, and served as Labour and Employment Minister and High Commissioner to Ceylon (Sri Lanka).[24]
5 Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
(1905–1977)		 24 August 1974 11 February 1977 Food and Agriculture Minister Gopal Swarup Pathak (1974)

Basappa Danappa Jatti (1974–1977)

   Indian National Congress
1974
2 years, 171 days
Ahmed served as a Minister before being elected as president. He died in 1977 before his term of office ended, and was the second Indian president to die in office.[25] He was also president during Emergency.[26]
– Basappa Danappa Jatti*
(1912–2002)		 11 February 1977 25 July 1977 Vice President –   –
–
164 days
Jatti was the vice president of India during Ahmed's term of office, and was sworn in as Acting President upon Ahmed's death. He earlier served as the Chief Minister for the State of Mysore State.[25][27]
6 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
(1913–1996)		 25 July 1977 25 July 1982 Speaker of the Lok Sabha Basappa Danappa Jatti (1977–1979)

Mohammad Hidayatullah (1979–1982)

   Janata Party
1977
5 years, 0 days
Reddy was the first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Reddy was the only Member of Parliament from the Janata Party to get elected from Andhra Pradesh.[28] He was unanimously elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha on 26 March 1977 and relinquished this office on 13 July 1977 to become the 6th President of India.[23]
7 Zail Singh
(1916–1994)		 25 July 1982 25 July 1987 Home Minister Mohammad Hidayatullah (1982–1984)

Ramaswamy Venkataraman (1984–1987)

   Indian National Congress
1982
5 years, 0 days
In March 1972, Singh assumed the position of Chief Minister of Punjab, and in 1980, he became Union Home Minister. He was also secretary general to Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) from 1983 to 1986[29]
8 Ramaswamy Venkataraman
(1910–2009)		 25 July 1987 25 July 1992 Vice President Shankar Dayal Sharma   Indian National Congress
1987
5 years, 0 days
In 1942, Venkataraman was jailed by the British for his involvement in the Indian independence movement.[30] After his release, he was elected to independent India's Provisional Parliament as a member of the Congress Party in 1950 and eventually joined the central government, where he first served as Minister of Finance and Industry and later as Minister of Defence.[31]
9 Shankar Dayal Sharma
(1918–1999)		 25 July 1992 25 July 1997 Vice President Kocheril Raman Narayanan   Indian National Congress
1992
5 years, 0 days
Sharma was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, and the Indian Minister for Communications. He also served as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra.[32]
10 Kocheril Raman Narayanan
(1921–2005)		 25 July 1997 25 July 2002 Vice President Krishan Kant   Independent
1997
5 years, 0 days
Narayanan served as India's ambassador to Thailand, Turkey, China and United States of America. He received doctorates in Science and Law and was also a chancellor in several universities.[33] He was also the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University.[34] He was the first Dalit President.[35]
11 Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam
(1931–2015)		 25 July 2002 25 July 2007 Chief Scientific Advisor of Prime Minister Krishan Kant (2002)

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (2002–2007)

   Independent
2002
5 years, 0 days
Kalam was an educator and engineer who played a leading role in the development of India's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.[36] He also received the Bharat Ratna. He was popularly known as "People's President".[37][38][39]
12 Pratibha Patil
(1934–)		 25 July 2007 25 July 2012 Governor of Rajasthan Mohammad Hamid Ansari   Indian National Congress
2007
5 years, 0 days
Patil was the first woman to become the President of India. She was also the first female governor of Rajasthan.[40][41]
13 Pranab Mukherjee
(1935–)		 25 July 2012 25 July 2017 Finance Minister Mohammad Hamid Ansari   Indian National Congress
2012
5 years, 0 days
Mukherjee held various posts in the cabinet ministry for the Government of India such as Finance Minister, Foreign Minister, Defence Minister and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.[42]
14 Ram Nath Kovind
(1945–)		 25 July 2017 Incumbent
(Term ends on 25 July 2022)		 Governor of Bihar Venkaiah Naidu   Bharatiya Janata Party
2017
3 years, 23 days
Kovind was governor of Bihar from 2015 to 2017 and a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 2006. He is the second Dalit president (after K. R. Narayanan) and is the first president from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is an active member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since his youth.[43]
Other Symbols

-Died in office
-Did not complete assigned term
*-Acting President

Timeline
Ram Nath KovindPranab MukherjeePratibha PatilA. P. J. Abdul KalamShankar Dayal SharmaRamaswamy VenkataramanZail SinghNeelam Sanjiva ReddyFakhruddin Ali AhmedMohammad HidayatullahZakir Husain (politician)Sarvepalli RadhakrishnanRajendra Prasad

See also

References

General
  • "Former Presidents". President’s Secretariat. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
  • "List of Presidents/Vice Presidents". Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2008.

Specific
  1. "President Ram Nath Kovind is Indias first citizen. Your chances begin only at Number 27". indiatoday.com. Times of India. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  2. "The Constitution of India". Ministry of Law and Justice of India. Archived from the original (.doc) on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2009.
  3. "India gets first woman president since independence". BBC News. 25 July 2007. Archived from the original on 15 February 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  4. "1950: India becomes a republic". BBC News. 26 January 1950. Archived from the original on 17 January 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  5. "NDA vs Oppn: India might to witness tightest presidential poll since 1969". Hindustan Times. 26 April 2017. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017.
  6. Harish Khare (6 December 2006). "Selecting the next Rashtrapati". The Hindu. India. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  7. "Infographic: Which states India's Presidents have hailed from". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  8. Shekhar Iyer (25 June 2007). "Shekhawat will not resign to contest poll". Hindustan Times. India. Archived from the original on 11 January 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2009.
  9. "First female president for India". BBC News. 21 July 2007. Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  10. Hebbar, Nistula (20 July 2017). "Ram Nath Kovind enters Rashtrapati Bhavan with big win". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 20 July 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  11. Desk, The Hindu Net (25 July 2017). "Ram Nath Kovind takes oath as President, Rajya Sabha discusses farmers' crisis – top stories for today". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  12. "List of Presidents of India since India became republic | My India". www.mapsofindia.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  13. "Rajendra Prasad". The Hindu. India. 7 May 1952. Archived from the original on 11 January 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  14. "Republic Day". Time. 6 February 1950. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  15. "Rajendra Prasad's birth anniversary celebrated". The Hindu. India. 10 December 2006. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  16. Ramachandra Guha (15 April 2006). "Why Amartya Sen should become the next president of India". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 28 February 2007. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  17. "Dr S. Radhakrishnan". The Sunday Tribune. 30 January 2000. Archived from the original on 3 February 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  18. "Commemorative Volume on S.Radhakrishnan" (PDF). rajyasabha.nic.in. Rajya sabha. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  19. "Zakir Husain". Vice President's Secretariat. Archived from the original on 24 September 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  20. "7 leaders who died while in office". India Today. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  21. "Shekhawat need not compare himself to Giri: Shashi Bhushan". The Hindu. India. 12 July 2007. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  22. "Hidayatullah, Shri M". Vice President's Secretariat. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  23. Ramakrishnan, T. (24 July 2012). "The twice Acting-President". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  24. "Giri, Shri Varahagiri Venkata". Vice President's Secretariat. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  25. "Gallery of Indian Presidents". Press Information Bureau of the Government of India. Archived from the original on 10 December 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  26. "Emergency: The Dark Age of Indian democracy". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 4 November 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  27. "Jatti, Shri Basappa Danappa". Vice President's Secretariat. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  28. Bhargava, G.S. "Making of the Prez – Congress chief selects PM as well as President". The Tribune. India. Archived from the original on 17 April 2009. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  29. Wolpert, Stanley A. (1999). India. University of California Press. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-520-22172-7. Retrieved 3 January 2009.
  30. Hazarika, Sanjoy (17 July 1987). "Man in the News; India's Mild New President: Ramaswamy Venkataraman". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  31. "Venkataraman, Shri R." Vice President's Secretariat. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  32. Navtej Sarna (27 December 1999). "Former President Shankar Dayal Sharma passes away". Embassy of India, Washington, DC. Archived from the original on 8 August 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2008.
  33. "Narayanan, Shri K, R". Vice President's Secretariat. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 6 December 2008.
  34. "The BJP's aim was to get rid of me". Confederation of Human Rights Organizations. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  35. "Can Ram Nath Kovind, second Dalit President, follow in the footsteps of first Dalit President K R Narayanan?". India Today. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  36. Ramana, M. V.; Reddy, C. Rammanohar (2002). Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream. New Delhi: Orient Longman. p. 169. ISBN 978-81-250-2477-4. Archived from the original on 21 September 2014.
  37. Tyagi, Kavita; Misra, Padma (23 May 2011). Basic Technical Communication. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. p. 124. ISBN 978-81-203-4238-5. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  38. "'Kalam was real people's President'". Hindustan Times. Indo-Asian News Service. 24 July 2007. Archived from the original on 11 May 2009. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  39. Perappadan, Bindu Shajan (14 April 2007). "The people's President does it again". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 25 January 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  40. Emily Wax (22 July 2007). "Female President Elected in India". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  41. "Pratibha Patil is Rajasthan's first woman governor". Express India. 8 November 2008. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 6 December 2008.
  42. "Archived version of bio data of Pranab Mukherjee in Lok Sabha". india.gov.in. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  43. "PresidentofIndia". Presidents Secretariat. Government of India. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.