The President if the head of the state
in India. The President of India plays a vital (and in fact, the most important
role) on the 26th January Republic Day.
The President of India or Rashtrapati
(a Sanskrit neologism, literally meaning: "lord of the realm") is
the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander
of the Indian armed forces. In theory, the President possesses considerable
power. With few exceptions, most of the authority vested in the President is
in practice exercised by the Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister.
The President is elected by the elected
members of the Parliamentof India (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha)
as well as of the state legislatures (Vidhan Sabhas), and serves for
a term of five years. Incumbents are permitted to stand for re-election. A formula
is used to allocate votes so there is a balance between the population of each
state and the number of votes assembly members from a state can cast, and to
give an equal balance between State Assembly members and National Parliament
members. If no candidate receives a majority of votes there is a system by which
losing candidates are eliminated from the contest and votes for them transferred
to other candidates, until one gains a majority. The Vice-President is elected
by a direct vote of all members (elected and nominated) of the Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha.
The ruling President of India,
Pratibha Patil,
with the former President, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
The president of India resides in an
estate in New Delhi known as the Rashtrapati Bhavan (which roughly translates
as President's Abode). The presidential retreat is The Retreat in Chharabra,
Shimla and Rashtrapati Nilayam (President's Place) in Hyderabad.
The 12th President of India is Her Excellency
Pratibha Patil, the first woman to serve in the office, who was sworn in on
25 July 2007.
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, and the Political party column below indicates
the party (if any) that the president was a member of before being elected.
The *-marks used in the table indicate the following:
# |
Name |
Portrait |
Took
office |
Left
office |
Vice
President |
Notes |
1 |
Rajendra Prasad |
|
26 January 1950 |
13 May 1962 |
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan |
Prasad was the
first President of independent India. He was also an independence activist
of the Indian Independence Movement. Prasad was the only president to
serve for two terms in office. |
2 |
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan |
|
13 May 1962 |
13 May 1967 |
Zakir Hussain |
Radhakrishnan
was a prominent philosopher, writer, a Knight of the Realm and also held
the position of vice chancellor of the Andhra University and Banaras Hindu
University. He was also made a Knight of the Golden Army of Angels by
Pope Paul VI. |
3 |
Zakir Hussain |
|
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. He died before his term of office was ended. |
|
*Varahagiri Venkata
Giri |
|
3 May 1969 |
20 July 1969 |
|
Giri was appointed
as acting president following the death of Hussain. He resigned in a few
months to take part in the presidential elections. |
|
*Muhammad Hidayatullah |
|
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. He served as acting president until the election of Giri
as the President of India. |
4 |
Varahagiri Venkata
Giri |
|
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). |
5 |
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed |
|
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 have died during a term of office. |
|
*Basappa Danappa Jatti |
|
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 upon Ahmed's death. He earlier functioned as the Chief
Minister for the State of Mysore. |
6 |
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy |
|
25 July 1977 |
25 July 1982 |
Muhammad Hidayatullah |
Reddy was the
only Member of Parliament from the Janata Party to get elected from Andhra
Pradesh. 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 |
|
25 July 1982 |
25 July 1987 |
Ramaswamy Venkataraman |
In March 1972,
Singh assumed the position of chief Minister of Punjab, and in 1980, he
became Union Home Minister. |
8 |
Ramaswamy Venkataraman |
|
25 July 1987 |
25 July 1992 |
Shankar Dayal Sharma |
In 1942, Venkataraman
was jailed by the British for his involvement in the India's independence
movement. 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. |
9 |
Shankar Dayal Sharma |
|
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. |
10 |
Kocheril Raman Narayanan |
|
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. 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 |
Kalam, India's
Third Muslim President, was a scientist who played a leading role in the
development of India's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.
Kalam also received the Bharat Ratna. |
12 |
Pratibha Patil |
|
25 July 2007 |
Incumbent |
Mohammad Hamid Ansari |
Patil was the
first woman to become President of India. She was also the first female
Governor of Rajasthan. |
- The names that starts with symbol (*), with no serial
no., indicates an acting President.
