PRESIDENTS 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 armed forces of India.

The post of President is known in Hindi as:

“Rashtrapathi”, a Sanskrit neologism meaning "lord of the realm"

The President is elected by an 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.

There have been 13 Presidents of India since the introduction of the post in 1950.

Apart from these twelve, three acting presidents have also been in office for short periods of

time.

Varahagiri Venkata Giri became First 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.

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superseded by Muhammad Hidayatullah as acting president.

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.

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.

# NAME TENURE VICE PRESIDENT NOTE

1 RAJENDRA

PRASAD

26 JAN 1950

–

13 MAY 1962

SARVEPALLI

RADHAKRISHNAN

1. Rajendra Prasad won the 1st Presidential Elections held on

May 2, 1952 beating his nearest rival K.T. Shah

2. Rajendra Prasad was the first predient of Independent India

from Bihar.

3. Rajendra Prasad also won the 2nd Presidential Elections

held on May 6, 1957 beating his nearest rivals Chowdry

Hari Ram and Nagendra Narayan Das.

4. Dr. Rajendra Prasad has been the only person to won and

served two terms as president of India.

2

SARVEPALLI

RADHAKRISHNAN

13 MAY 1962

–

13 MAY 1967

ZAKIR HUSSAIN

1. S. Radhakrishnan won the 3rd Presidential Elections held

on May 6, 1962 beating his nearest rival Chowdry Hari

Ram.

2. He also held the position as the Vice chancellor of Andhra

University and Banaras Hindu University.

3 ZAKIR HUSSIAN

13 MAY 1967

-

13 MAY 1969

VARAHAGIRI

VENKATA GIRI

1. Zakir Hussain won the 4th presidential Elections held on

May 6, 1967 beating his nearest rival Koka Subbarao.

VARAHGIR

VENKATA GIRI

(Acting president)

3 MAY 1969

–

20 JULY 1969

1. Giri was appointed as the Acting president of India

following the death of Zakir Hussain.

2. He resigned in a few months to take part in the

presidential Elections.

MUHAMMAD

HIDAYATULLAH

(Acting President)

20 JULY 1969

–

24 AUGUST

1969

1. Hidayatullah served as the Chief Justice of India and

was the Recipient of the Order of the British Empire.

2. He served as the Acting President of India until GIRI

was elected as the President of India.

4

VARAHAGIRI

VENKATA GIRI

24 AUGUST

1969

–

24 AUGUST

1974

GOPAL SWARUP

PATHAK

1. GIRI won the 5th presidential Elections of India beating

his nearest rival Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy.

2. He was the Recipient of Bharat Ratna and has

functioned as Minister of Labour and High

Commissioner to Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

5

FAKHRUDDIN ALI

AHMED

24 AUGUST

1974

–

11

FEBRUARUY

1977

BASAPPA

DANAPPA JATTI

1. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed won the 6th Presidential

Elections beating his nearest rival Tridib Chauduri.

BASAPPA

DANAPPA JATTI

(Acting President)

11

FEBRUARY

1977

–

25 JULY 1977

1. Jatti was the vice president of India during Ahmed’s

term and sworn in as the Acting President Upon

Ahmed’s death.

2. He earlier functioned as the Chief Minister for the state

of Mysore.

6

NEELAM

SANJEEVA REDDY (Youngest

President)

25 JULY 1977

–

25 JULY 1982

MUHAMMAD

HIDAYATULLAH

1. Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy won the 7th Presidential

Elections held on August 6,1977.

2. Even though, 37 Candidates filled their Nominations, 36

of them were rejected, leading to Neelam Sanjeeva

Reddy being the only president of India winnign

Unopposed.

7

GIANI ZAIL SINGH

25 JULY 1982

–

25 JULY 1987

RAMASWAMY

VENKATARAMAN

1. Zail Singh won 8th presidential elections of India on

July 1982 over his nearest rival HR Khanna.

2. In March 1972, Singh assumed the position of chief

Minister of Punjab, and in 1980, he became Union

Home Minister.

3. ZAIL singh was the first sikh to be the president of

India.

8 RAMASWAMY

VENKATARAMAN

25 JULY 1987

–

25 JULY 1992

SHANKAR DAYAL

SHARMA

1. He won 9th presidential elections of Indiaon July 1987

over his nearest rival V.R. Krishna Iyer.

2. 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.

9

SHANKAR DAYAL

SHARMA

25 JULY 1992

–

25 JULY 1997

KOCHERIL RAMAN

NARAYANAN

1. He won 10th presidential elections of Indiaon 24 July

1992 over his nearest rival G.G. Swell.

2. Sharma was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, and the

Indian Minister for Communications. He has also served

as the governor of Andhra

Pradesh, Punjab andMaharashtra.

10

KOCHERIL RAMAN

NARAYANAN

25 JULY 1997

–

25 JULY 2002

KRISHAN KANT

1. He won the 11th Presidential Elections 17 July 1997 over

his nearest rival T.N. Sheshan.

2. 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. He was also the vice-

chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University

11

A.P.J. ABDUL

KALAM

25 JULY 2002

–

25 JULY 2007

BHAIRON SINGH

SHEKHAWAT

1. He won the 12th Presidential Elections on 15 July 2002

over his Nearest rival Lakshmi Sehgal.

2. Kalam, is a scientist who played a leading role in the

development of India's ballistic missile and nuclear

weapons programs. He also received the Bharat Ratna.

Kalam was affectionately known as the People's

President.

12

PRATIBHA PATIL

25 JULY 2007

–

25 JULY 2012

MOHAMMAD

HAMID ANSARI

1. She won the 13th Presidential Elections of India on 19

July 2007 over his nearest rival Bhairon singh

shekhawat.

2. Patil is the first woman to become the President of India.

3. She was also the first female Governor of Rajasthan.

13

PRANAB

MUKHERJEE

25 JULY 2012

– TILL DATE

(INCUMBENT)

MOHAMMAD

HAMID ANSARI

1. He won the 14th Presidential elections of India on 19

July 2012 defeating his nearest rival , former Speaker of

the Lok Sabha,P. A. Sangma from Meghalaya.

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