Presidents and Prime Ministers of India

The President of India is the head of state of India and the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The President is referred to as the first citizen of India. 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.

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. 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.

List of Presidents of India:

No.	President Name (Birth and Death)	Photograph	Elected	Took Office	Left Office	Term (in Month)	Vice President
1	Rajendra Prasad (1884–1963)		1952 1957	26 January 1950	12 May 1962	120	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
2	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975)		1962	13 May 1962	13 May 1967	60	Zakir Husain
3	Zakir Husain – Died in office (1897–1969)		1967	13 May 1967	3 May 1969	24	Varahagiri Venkata Giri
–	Varahagiri Venkata Giri – Did not complete assigned term (1894–1980)		–	3 May 1969	20 July 1969	3	–
–	Mohammad Hidayatullah – Acting President (1905–1992)		–	20 July 1969	24 August 1969	1	–
4	Varahagiri Venkata Giri (1894–1980)		1969	24 August 1969	24 August 1974	60	Gopal Swarup Pathak
5	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed – Died in office (1905–1977)		1974	24 August 1974	11 February 1977	36	Gopal Swarup Pathak (1974) Basappa Danappa Jatti(1974–1977)
–	Basappa Danappa Jatti – Acting President (1912–2002)		–	11 February 1977	25 July 1977	6	–
6	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (1913–1996)		1977	25 July 1977	25 July 1982	60	Basappa Danappa Jatti(1977–1979) Mohammad Hidayatullah(1979–1982)
7	Zail Singh (1916–1994)		1982	25 July 1982	25 July 1987	60	Mohammad Hidayatullah(1982–1984) Ramaswamy Venkataraman(1984–1987)
8	Ramaswamy Venkataraman (1910–2009)		1987	25 July 1987	25 July 1992	60	Shankar Dayal Sharma
9	Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918–1999)		1992	25 July 1992	25 July 1997	60	Kocheril Raman Narayanan
10	Kocheril Raman Narayanan (1920–2005)		1997	25 July 1997	25 July 2002	60	Krishan Kant
11	Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (1931–2015)		2002	25 July 2002	25 July 2007	60	Krishan Kant(2002) Bhairon Singh Shekhawat(2002–2007)
12	Pratibha Patil (1934–)		2007	25 July 2007	25 July 2012	60	Mohammad Hamid Ansari
13	Pranab Mukherjee (1935–)		2012	25 July 2012	25 July 2017	60	Mohammad Hamid Ansari
14	Ram Nath Kovind (1945–)		2017	25 July 2017	Incumbent	–	Venkaiah Naidu

The Prime Minister of India is the chief executive of the Government of India. In India’s parliamentary system, the Constitution names the President as head of state de jure, but his or her de facto executive powers are vested in the Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers. Appointed and sworn-in by the President, the Prime Minister is usually the leader of the party or alliance that has a majority in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s Parliament.

List of Prime Ministers of India:

No.	Prime Minister Name (Birth-Death)	Photograph	Prior Office	Political Party	Term in Office
1	Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964)		Vice President of Executive Council	Indian National Congress	15 August1947	15 April1952
					15 April1952	17 April1957
					17 April1957	2 April1957
					2 April1957	27 May 1964
–	Gulzarilal Nanda (acting) (1898–1998)		Minister of Labour and Employment	Indian National Congress	27 May 1964	9 June 1964
2	Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904–1966)		Minister of Home Affairs	Indian National Congress	9 June 1964	11 January 1966
–	Gulzarilal Nanda (acting) (1898–1998)		Minister of Home Affairs	Indian National Congress	11 January 1966	24 January 1966
3	Indira Gandhi (1917–1984)		Minister of Information and Broadcasting – Prime Minister (Re-elected)	Indian National Congress	24 January 1966	4 March1967
					4 March1967	15 March1971
					15 March1971	24 March 1977
4	Morarji Desai (1896–1995)		Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister of India before he resigned in 1969	Janata Party	24 March 1977	28 July 1979[RES]
5	Charan Singh (1902–1987)		Minister of Finance	Janata Party (Secular) with INC	28 July 1979	14 January 1980[RES]
(3)	Indira Gandhi (1917–1984)		Former Prime Minister	Indian National Congress	14 January 1980	31 October 1984
6	Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991)		MP for Amethi	Indian National Congress	31 October 1984	31 December1984
					31 December1984	2 December 1989
7	Vishwanath Pratap Singh (1931–2008)		Minister of Defence	Janata Dal (National Front)	2 December 1989	10 November 1990[NC]
8	Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007)		MP for Ballia	Samajwadi Janata Party with INC	10 November 1990	21 June 1991
9	Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao (1921–2004)		Minister of External Affairs	Indian National Congress	21 June 1991	16 May 1996
10	Atal Bihari Vajpayee (born 1924)		Minister of External Affairs	Bharatiya Janata Party	16 May 1996	1 June 1996[RES]
11	Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda (born 1933)		Chief Minister of Karnataka	Janata Dal (United Front)	1 June 1996	21 April 1997[RES]
12	Inder Kumar Gujral (1919–2012)		Minister of External Affairs	Janata Dal (United Front)	21 April 1997	19 March 1998
(10)	Atal Bihari Vajpayee (born 1924)		Former Prime Minister	Bharatiya Janata Party (NDA)	19 March 1998[§]	10 October1999
					10 October1999	22 May 2004
13	Manmohan Singh (born 1932)		Minister of Finance	Indian National Congress (UPA)	22 May 2004	22 May2009
					22 May2009	26 May 2014
14	Narendra Modi (born 1950)		Chief Minister of Gujarat	Bharatiya Janata Party (NDA)	26 May 2014	Incumbent

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