List of Presidents of India

The Main Gate of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India

The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India. The President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces.[1] Although the president is vested such powers by the Constitution of India, the position is largely a ceremonial role and the executive powers are de facto exercised by the Cabinet Ministers and Prime Minister.[2] The post of President is known in Hindi as Rashtrapati, a Sanskrit neologism meaning "lord of the realm". The President is elected by the Electoral College composed of elected members of the parliament houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and also members of the Vidhan Sabha, the state legislative assemblies.[1]

There have been 13 presidents of India since the introduction of the post in 1950. The post was established when India was declared as a republic with the adoption of the Indian constitution.[3] Apart from these thirteen, three acting presidents have also been in office for short periods of time. Varahagiri Venkata Giri became Acting President of India in 1969 following the death of Zakir Hussain, who 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. The President 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.[1] Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, is the only person to have held office for two terms.[4]

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 Hussain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, have died in office. Their vice-presidents functioned as acting president until a new president was elected. Following Hussain's death, two acting presidents held office until the new president, Varahagiri Venkata Giri, was elected. Varahagiri Venkata Giri himself, Hussain's vice president, was the first acting president. When Giri resigned to take part in the presidential elections, he was superseded by Muhammad Hidayatullah as acting president.[5] The current President is Pranab Mukherjee elected on 25 July 2012. 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. He originally comes from West Bengal and is also the first Bengali to hold the post of the President.[6] The ex- president, Pratibha Patil, who was in office till 25 July 2012, was elected as the 12th President of India in 2007. She is also the first woman to serve as President of India.[7]

Presidents

This list is numbered based on Presidents elected after winning an Indian Presidential election. The terms of Varahagiri Venkata Giri, Muhammad Hidayatullah, and Basappa Danappa Jatti, who have functioned as acting presidents, are therefore not numbered. The President of India does not represent any political party. The colours used in the table indicate the following:

Colour key
№ Name
(Birth–Death)		 Portrait Elected Took office Left office Vice President
1 Rajendra Prasad
(1884–1963)		 1952
1957		 26 January 1950 12 May 1962 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Prasad, from Bihar, was the first President of independent India, and also the longest-serving President, for 12 years.[8][9] He was also a freedom fighter during the Indian independence movement.[10] Prasad was the only president to serve two terms in office.[4]
2 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
(1888–1975)		 1962 13 May 1962 13 May 1967 Zakir Husain
Radhakrishnan was a prominent philosopher and writer and also held the position of vice chancellor of the Andhra University and Banaras Hindu University.[11] He was also made a Knight of the Golden Army of Angels by Pope Paul VI. He received Bharat Ratna award in 1954 before becoming the President.[12] He was the first President from South India.
3 Zakir Husain
(1897–1969)		 1967 13 May 1967 3 May 1969 Varahagiri Venkata Giri
Hussain was vice chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University and a recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna.[13] He died in office, the first to do so. He was also the shortest-serving President. He was also the first Muslim President.
– Varahagiri Venkata Giri *
(1894–1980)		 – 3 May 1969 20 July 1969 –
He was elected Vice President of India in 1967. Following the death of President Zakir Hussain, Giri was appointed as Acting President of India.[14] He resigned in a few months to take part in the presidential elections.[5]
– Mohammad Hidayatullah *
(1905–1992)		 – 20 July 1969 24 August 1969 –
Hidayatullah served as the Chief Justice of India, and was a recipient of the Order of the British Empire.[15] He served as Acting President of India until the election of Giri as the President of India.
4 Varahagiri Venkata Giri
(1894–1980)		 1969 24 August 1969 24 August 1974 Gopal Swarup Pathak
Giri is the only person to have served as both an acting president and president of India. He was a recipient of the Bharat Ratna, and has functioned as Indian Minister of Labour and High Commissioner to Ceylon (Sri Lanka).[16]
5 Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
(1905–1977)		 1974 24 August 1974 11 February 1977 Basappa Danappa Jatti
Fakhruddin Ali 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.[17]
– Basappa Danappa Jatti *
(1912–2002)		 – 11 February 1977 25 July 1977 –
Jatti was the vice president of India during Ahmed's term of office, and was sworn in as Acting President of India upon Ahmed's death. He earlier functioned as the Chief Minister for the State of Mysore.[17][18]
6 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
(1913–1996)		 1977 25 July 1977 25 July 1982 Basappa Danappa Jatti

Muhammad Hidayatullah

N.S. Reddy was the first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh State. Reddy was the only Member of Parliament from the Janata Party to get elected from Andhra Pradesh.[19] 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.
7 Giani Zail Singh
(1916–1994)		 1982 25 July 1982 25 July 1987 Muhammad Hidayatullah

Ramaswamy Venkataraman

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[20]
8 Ramaswamy Venkataraman
(1910–2009)		 1987 25 July 1987 25 July 1992 Shankar Dayal Sharma
In 1942, Venkataraman was jailed by the British for his involvement in the Indian independence movement.[21] 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.[22]
9 Shankar Dayal Sharma
(1918–1999)		 1992 25 July 1992 25 July 1997 Kocheril Raman Narayanan
Sharma was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, and the Indian Minister for Communications. He has also served as the governor of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra.[23]
10 Kocheril Raman Narayanan
(1920–2005)		 1997 25 July 1997 25 July 2002 Krishan Kant
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.[24] He was also the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University.[25] He was the first President from Kerala, and also the first Dalit President.
11 A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
(1931–2015)		 2002 25 July 2002 25 July 2007 Krishan Kant

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat

Kalam was a scientist who played a leading role in the development of India's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.[26] He also received the Bharat Ratna. Kalam was affectionately known as the People's President, due to his extra-Presidential activities. He was the first bachelor president of India, and the first Muslim President who completed his term. Kalam died following a heart attack while delivering a speech in Shillong. [27][28][29]
12 Pratibha Patil
(1934–)		 2007 25 July 2007 25 July 2012 Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Patil was the first woman to become the President of India. She was also the first female Governor of Rajasthan.[30][31]
13 Pranab Mukherjee
(1935–)		 2012 25 July 2012 Incumbent Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Pranab 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.[6]

See also

References

General
Specific
  1. 1 2 3 "The Constitution of India" (.doc). Ministry of Law and Justice of India. Retrieved 4 January 2009.
  2. ↑ "India gets first woman president since independence". BBC News. 25 July 2007. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  3. ↑ "1950: India becomes a republic". BBC News. 26 January 1950. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  4. 1 2 Harish Khare (6 December 2006). "Selecting the next Rashtrapati". The Hindu. India. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  5. 1 2 Shekhar Iyer (25 June 2007). "Shekhawat will not resign to contest poll". Hindustan Times. India. Retrieved 4 January 2009.
  6. 1 2 http://zeenews.india.com/news/exclusive/pranab-mukherjee-–-the-13th-president-of-india_789045.html
  7. ↑ "First female president for India". BBC News. 21 July 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  8. ↑ "Rajendra Prasad". The Hindu. India. 7 May 1952. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  9. ↑ "Republic Day". Time. 6 February 1950. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  10. ↑ "Rajendra Prasad's birth anniversary celebrated". The Hindu. India. 10 December 2006. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  11. ↑ Ramachandra Guha (15 April 2006). "Why Amartya Sen should become the next president of India". The Telegraph. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  12. ↑ "Dr S. Radhakrishnan". The Sunday Tribune. 30 January 2000. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  13. ↑ "Zakir Husain,". Vice President's Secretariat. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  14. ↑ "Shekhawat need not compare himself to Giri: Shashi Bhushan". The Hindu. India. 12 July 2007. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  15. ↑ "Hidayatullah, Shri M". Vice President's Secretariat. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  16. ↑ "Giri, Shri Varahagiri Venkata". Vice President's Secretariat. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  17. 1 2 "Gallery of Indian Presidents". Press Information Bureau of the Government of India. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  18. ↑ "Jatti, Shri Basappa Danappa". Vice President's Secretariat. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  19. ↑ Bhargava, G.S. "Making of the Prez – Congress chief selects PM as well as President". The Tribune. India. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  20. ↑ Wolpert, Stanley A. (1999). India. University of California Press. p. 217. Retrieved 3 January 2009.
  21. ↑ Hazarika, Sanjoy (17 July 1987). "Man in the News; India's Mild New President: Ramaswamy Venkataraman". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  22. ↑ "Venkataraman, Shri R.". Vice President's Secretariat. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  23. ↑ Navtej Sarna (27 December 1999). "Former President Shankar Dayal Sharma passes away". Embassy of India, Washington D.C. Retrieved 6 December 2008.
  24. ↑ "Narayanan, Shri K, R". Vice President's Secretariat. Retrieved 6 December 2008.
  25. ↑ "The BJP's aim was to get rid of me". Confederation of Human Rights Organizations. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  26. ↑ Ramana, M. V.; Reddy, C. Rammanohar (2002). Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream. New Delhi: Orient Longman. p. 169.
  27. ↑ Tyagi, Kavita; Misra, Padma. Basic Technical Communication. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. p. 124. ISBN 978-81-203-4238-5. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  28. ↑ "'Kalam was real people's President'". Hindustan Times. Indo-Asian News Service. 24 July 2007. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  29. ↑ Perappadan, Bindu Shajan (14 April 2007). "The people's President does it again". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  30. ↑ Emily Wax (22 July 2007). "Female President Elected in India". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  31. ↑ "Pratibha Patil is Rajasthan's first woman governor". Express India. 8 November 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2008.

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