List of presidents of India

This article is part of a series on the

Politics of India

Constitution

* Amendment
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Fundamental Duties of India
* Human rights
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Government

* President of India

* Droupadi Murmu (15th)

* * *

* Vice President of India

* Jagdeep Dhankhar (14th)

* * *

* Prime Minister of India

* Narendra Modi (14th)

* * *

* Cabinet secretary

* T. V. Somanathan

* * *

* Ministries
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Parliament

Lok Sabha (18th)

* Speaker

* Om Birla

* * *

* Deputy Speaker

* Vacant

* * *

* Leader of the House

* Narendra Modi (BJP)

* * *

* Leader of the Opposition

* Rahul Gandhi (INC)

* * *

* Secretary General

* Utpal Kumar Singh

Rajya Sabha (Members)

* Chairman

* Jagdeep Dhankhar

* * *

* Deputy Speaker

* Harivansh Narayan Singh

* * *

* Leader of the House

* Jagat Prakash Nadda (BJP)

* * *

* Leader of the Opposition

* Mallikarjun Kharge (INC)

* * *

* Secretary General

* Pramod Chandra Mody

Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs

* Cabinet Minister

* Kiren Rijiju

* * *

* Minister of State

* Arjun Ram Meghwal
* L. Murugan

Law and judiciary

Law of India

* Indian criminal law

* Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
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* * *

* Code of Civil Procedure

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* Chief Justice (51st)

* Sanjiv Khanna

* * *

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* * *

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Ministry of Law and Justice

* Minister

* Arjun Ram Meghwal

* * *

* Attorney-General

* R. Venkataramani

* * *

* Solicitor General

* Tushar Mehta

* * *

* Additional Solicitor General

* * *

* Law Commission
* National Judicial Appointments Commission
* National Legal Services Authority

Elections and politics

Election Commission

* Chief Election Commissioner

* Gyanesh Kumar

* * *

* Election Commissioner

* Sukhbir Singh Sandhu
* Vivek Joshi

* * *

* State Election Commission

Elections

* Democracy
* Electoral College
* Electronic voting

* * *

* Presidential elections

* 2022
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* 2012

* * *

* Vice Presidential elections

* 2022
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* * *

* Lok Sabha elections (Constituencies)

* 2014
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* * *

* Rajya Sabha elections

* 2024
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* * *

* State Assembly elections

* 2019
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* * *

* National coalitions
* NDA
* INDIA
* Political parties
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Administrative divisions

States and union territories (Capitals)

* States

* Andhra Pradesh
* Arunachal Pradesh
* Assam
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* Goa
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* Karnataka
* Kerala
* Madhya Pradesh
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* Meghalaya
* Mizoram
* Nagaland
* Odisha
* Punjab
* Rajasthan
* Sikkim
* Tamil Nadu
* Telangana
* Tripura
* Uttar Pradesh
* Uttarakhand
* West Bengal

* * *

* Union territories

* Andaman and Nicobar
* Chandigarh
* Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
* Delhi
* Jammu and Kashmir
* Ladakh
* Lakshadweep
* Puducherry

* * *

* Proposed states and union territories

* * *

* Autonomous Divisions
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Federalism

Executive

* Governor
* List
* Lieutenant Governor/Administrator
* List
* Chief Minister
* List
* Deputy Chief Minister
* List
* Ministries

Legislative

* Legislative Council
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* Speaker
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* List

Local Government

* Municipal Governance

* Municipal Corporation
* Municipality
* Town Panchayat

* * *

* Panchayati Raj

* District Panchayat
* Block Panchayat
* Gram Panchayat

Foreign relations

Ministry of External Affairs

* Cabinet Minister

* S. Jaishankar

* * *

* Minister of State

* Kirti Vardhan Singh
* Pabitra Margherita

* * *

* Foreign Secretary

* Vinay Mohan Kwatra

* * *

* Diplomatic missions of / in India
* Ambassadors and High Commissioners of India / to India

* * *

* Nationality law
* Overseas Citizenship
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* Visa requirements

Foreign Relations

* 2+2
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* * *

* Africa
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* * *

* Diaspora
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* State Visits to India

* * *

* Kashmir Conflict
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Foreign Policy

* ITEC
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* Pan-African e-Network project
* Indira Gandhi
* Narendra Modi

India portal

* Other countries

* v
* t
* e

For historical heads of state in the Indian Subcontinent, see List of heads of state of India.

* Top left: Rajendra Prasad was the first and longest-serving president of India.
* Top right: Zakir Husain was the second from a minority religion to become president of India.
* Bottom left: Pratibha Patil was the first female president of India.
* Bottom right: Droupadi Murmu is the youngest president and the first president from a tribal community.

The President of India is the head of state of the Republic 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]

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 Saasana Sabha or 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.

There have been 15 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 fifteen, three acting presidents have also been in office for short periods of time. V. V. 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. Rajendra Prasad, the first president of India, is the only person to have held office for two terms.[5]

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.[6] Pratibha Patil is the first woman to hold the office, elected in 2007.

On 25 July 2022, Droupadi Murmu took office as the president of India, becoming the second woman and the first tribal person to hold the office.[7]

## List

[edit]

This list is numbered based on presidents elected after winning an Indian presidential election. The terms of V. V. Giri, Mohammad Hidayatullah and B. D. 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 colors used in the table indicate the following:

Legend

Indian National Congress (INC) (8)

Janata Party (JP) (1)

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (3)

Independent (IND) (2)

Acting President (3)

Key

* RES Resigned
* † Died in office

|

Portrait  | Name

(Birth–Death)

| Home state  | Former Office(s)  | Term of office  | Oath administered by

(CJI)

| Election  | Election Map  | Prime Minister | Political party

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Assumed office  | Left office  | Time in office
| Rajendra Prasad
(1884–1963) | Bihar | Minister of Agriculture | 26 January 1950 | 13 May 1952 | 12 years, 107 days  | H. J. Kania | 1950 | \-  | Jawaharlal Nehru | Indian National Congress |
13 May 1952 | 13 May 1957 | M. Patanjali Sastri | 1952 |
13 May 1957 | 13 May 1962 | Sudhi Ranjan Das | 1957 |
| Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
(1888–1975) | Tamil Nadu | Vice President of India | 13 May 1962 | 13 May 1967 | 5 years, 0 days  | Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha | 1962 |  | Jawaharlal Nehru (1962- 1964)

* * *

Lal Bahadur Shastri (1964- 1966)

* * *

Indira Gandhi (1966- 1967)

| Independent |
| Zakir Husain
(1897–1969) | Andhra Pradesh | Vice President of India

* * *

Governor of Bihar

| 13 May 1967 | 3 May 1969[†] | 1 year, 355 days  | Kailas Nath Wanchoo | 1967 |  | Indira Gandhi
| V. V. Giri
(1894–1980) | Odisha | Vice President of India | 3 May 1969 | 20 July 1969 | 78 days  |  | –  | –
| Mohammad Hidayatullah
(1905–1992) | Chhattisgarh | Chief Justice of India | 20 July 1969 | 24 August 1969 | 35 days  |  | –  | –  |
| V. V. Giri
(1894–1980) | Odisha | Vice President of India

* * *

Governor of Kerala

| 24 August 1969 | 24 August 1974 | 5 years, 0 days  | Mohammad Hidayatullah | 1969 |  | Indira Gandhi
| Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
(1905–1977) | National Capital Territory of Delhi | Minister of Agriculture | 24 August 1974 | 11 February 1977[†] | 2 years, 171 days  | A. N. Ray[8] | 1974 |  | Indira Gandhi  | Indian National Congress |
| B. D. Jatti
(1912–2002) | Karnataka | Chief Minister of Karnataka | 11 February 1977 | 25 July 1977 | 164 days  |  | –  | –
| Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
(1913–1996) | Andhra Pradesh | Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh | 25 July 1977 | 25 July 1982 | 5 years, 0 days  | Mirza Hameedullah Beg | 1977 |  | Morarji Desai (1977- 1979)

* * *

Charan Singh (1979- 1980)

* * *

Indira Gandhi (1980- 1982)

| Janata Party |
| Zail Singh
(1916–1994) | Punjab | Chief Minister of Punjab | 25 July 1982 | 25 July 1987 | 5 years, 0 days  | Y. V. Chandrachud | 1982 |  | Indira Gandhi (1982- 1984)

* * *

Rajiv Gandhi (1984- 1987)

| Indian National Congress |
| Ramaswamy Venkataraman
(1910–2009) | Tamil Nadu | Vice President of India

* * *

Minister of Defence

| 25 July 1987 | 25 July 1992 | 5 years, 0 days  | Raghunandan Swarup Pathak | 1987 |  | Rajiv Gandhi (1987- 1989)

* * *

V. P. Singh (1989- 1990)

* * *

Chandra Shekhar (1990- 1991)

* * *

P. V. Narasimha Rao (1991- 1992)

| Shankar Dayal Sharma
(1918–1999) | Madhya Pradesh | Vice President of India

* * *

Governor of Maharashtra

| 25 July 1992 | 25 July 1997 | 5 years, 0 days  | M. H. Kania | 1992 |  | P. V. Narasimha Rao (1992- 1996)

* * *

Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1996)

* * *

H. D. Deve Gowda (1996- 1997)

* * *

Inder Kumar Gujral (1997)

| K. R. Narayanan
(1920–2005) | Kerala | Vice President of India | 25 July 1997 | 25 July 2002 | 5 years, 0 days  | J. S. Verma | 1997 |  | Inder Kumar Gujral (1997- 1998)

* * *

Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1998- 2002)

| A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
(1931–2015) | Tamil Nadu | Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of India | 25 July 2002 | 25 July 2007 | 5 years, 0 days  | Bhupinder Nath Kirpal | 2002 |  | Atal Bihari Vajpayee (2002- 2004)

* * *

Manmohan Singh (2004- 2007)

| Independent |
| Pratibha Patil
(born 1934) | Maharashtra | Governor of Rajasthan | 25 July 2007 | 25 July 2012 | 5 years, 0 days  | K. G. Balakrishnan[9] | 2007 |  | Manmohan Singh (2004- 2007)  | Indian National Congress |
| Pranab Mukherjee
(1935–2020) | West Bengal | Minister of Defence

* * *

Minister of Finance

* * *

Minister of External Affairs

| 25 July 2012 | 25 July 2017 | 5 years, 0 days  | S. H. Kapadia[10] | 2012 |  | Manmohan Singh (2007- 2014)

* * *

Narendra Modi (2014- 2017)

| Ram Nath Kovind
(born 1945) | Uttar Pradesh | Governor of Bihar | 25 July 2017 | 25 July 2022 | 5 years, 0 days  | Jagdish Singh Khehar[11] | 2017 |  | Narendra Modi  | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Droupadi Murmu
(born 1958) | Odisha | Governor of Jharkhand | 25 July 2022 | Incumbent | 2 years, 268 days  | N. V. Ramana[12] | 2022 |  | Narendra Modi

## Statistics

[edit]

Representation of presidents by party of candidacy

1. Indian National Congress (53.33%)
2. Independent (26.67%)
3. Bharatiya Janata Party (13.33%)
4. Janata Party (6.67%)

Timeline

## See also

[edit]

* President of India
* Vice President of India
* Prime Minister of India
* List of vice presidents of India
* List of prime ministers of India
* List of heads of state and government of Indian origin

## Citations

[edit]

1. ^ "President Ram Nath Kovind is India's first citizen. Your chances begin only at Number 27". indiatoday.com. Times of India. 26 July 2017. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
2. ^ a b "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. ^ Harish Khare (6 December 2006). "Selecting the next Rashtrapati". The Hindu. India. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
6. ^ 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.
7. ^ "Droupadi Murmu oath taking ceremony LIVE updates: Droupadi Murmu takes oath as India's 15th President". The Times of India. 25 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
8. ^ http://rashtrapatibhavan.gov.in/sites/default/files/2023-03/4_0.jpg. `{{cite web}}`: Missing or empty `|title=` (help)
9. ^ "Pratibha Patil sworn in as President". The Times of India. 25 July 2007. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
10. ^ "Pranab Mukherjee sworn in 13th President of India". India Today. 25 July 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
11. ^ "Ram Nath Kovind Takes Oath As 14th President of India: Highlights". www.ndtv.com. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
12. ^ "The Chief Justice of India, Shri Justice N.V. Ramana administering the oath of the office of the President of India to Smt. Droupadi Murmu, at a swearing-in ceremony in the central hall of Parliament, in New Delhi on July 25, 2022. | Welcome to RASHTRAPATI BHAVAN - The Office and Residence of the President of India". rashtrapatibhavan.gov.in. Retrieved 26 December 2024.

## References

[edit]

* The President of India (official site)
* India portal (official site)

## External links

[edit]

* World Statesmen – India
* Rulers.org – India

* v
* t
* e

Presidents of India

* List

Presidents|

* Rajendra Prasad
* Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
* Zakir Husain
* V. V. Giri
* Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
* Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
* Zail Singh
* Ramaswamy Venkataraman
* Shankar Dayal Sharma
* K. R. Narayanan
* A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
* Presidency
* Pratibha Patil
* Presidency
* Pranab Mukherjee
* Presidency
* Ram Nath Kovind
* Presidency
* Droupadi Murmu (incumbent)
* Presidency

Acting|

* V. V. Giri
* Mohammad Hidayatullah
* B. D. Jatti

* Eponyms
* Prasad
* Abdul Kalam
* International trips
* Patil
* Residence
* Spouse
* Category

* v
* t
* e

Government ministries of India

President (List) • Vice President (List) • Government of India • Prime Minister (List • Office) • Deputy Prime Minister • Council of Ministers

Current|

| Key|

* Defence
* External Affairs
* Finance
* Home Affairs

|

Economy & Industry|

* Chemicals and Fertilizers
* Civil Aviation
* Commerce and Industry
* Communications
* Co-operation
* Corporate Affairs
* Electronics and Information Technology
* Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
* Information and Broadcasting
* Labour and Employment
* Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
* Mines
* Steel
* Textiles
* Tourism

Infrastructure|

* Development of North Eastern Region
* Jal Shakti
* Ports, Shipping and Waterways
* Railways
* Road Transport and Highways
* Rural Development
* Housing and Urban Affairs

Food|

* Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare
* Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
* Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying
* Food Processing Industries

Energy & Climate Change|

* Coal
* Environment, Forest and Climate Change
* New and Renewable Energy
* Petroleum and Natural Gas
* Power

Science, Education & Health|

* AYUSH
* Earth Sciences
* Education
* Health and Family Welfare
* Science and Technology
* Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

General Administration|

* Culture
* Law and Justice
* Minority Affairs
* Panchayati Raj
* Parliamentary Affairs
* Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
* Planning
* Social Justice and Empowerment
* Statistics and Programme Implementation
* Tribal Affairs
* Women and Child Development
* Youth Affairs and Sports

Defunct|

* Communications and Information Technology
* Information Technology
* Overseas Indian Affairs
* Surface Transport
* Drinking Water and Sanitation
* Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
* Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation

Ministers|

* Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare
* Communications
* Defence
* Education
* External Affairs
* Finance
* Home Affairs
* Housing and Urban Affairs
* Law and Justice
* Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
* Railways
* Road Transport and Highways

Secretaries|

* Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister
* Cabinet
* Defence
* Finance
* Foreign
* Home
* Personnel

Departments|

| Current|

* Atomic Energy
* Biotechnology
* Economic Affairs
* Higher Education
* Official Language
* Science and Technology
* Military Affairs
* Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
* Space
* Technical Education
* Telecommunications

|

Defunct|

* Criminal Intelligence
* Thagi and Dakaiti

* v
* t
* e

Government of India

Constitution|

* Constitution
* Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties
* Federalism
* Union List
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* Concurrent List

Executive|

* President (list)
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* Union government
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Legislature|

* Parliament
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Judiciary|

* Supreme Court of India
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* Sitting judges
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