List of Presidents of India
Presidents
Table:
No

Name
(birth–death)

Photograph

Elected

Vote Share

Took office

Left office

Term

Previous Post

Vice President

Candidate of[12]

Appointed by
(Chief Justice of India)

Notes

1

Rajendra Prasad
(1884–1963)

1950

Elected unanimously by the Constituent Assembly

26 January 1950

13 May 1952

12 years, 107 days

President of the Constituent Assembly

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

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Indian National Congress

Constituent Assembly of India

Prasad, from Bihar, was the first President of independent India and also the longest-serving President, as the only president to serve two terms in office.[6][13][14] He was also a freedom fighter during the Indian independence movement.[15]

1952

83.8%

13 May 1952

13 May 1957

M. Patanjali Sastri

1957

98.9%

13 May 1957

13 May 1962

Sudhi Ranjan Das

2

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
(1888–1975)

1962

98.2%

13 May 1962

13 May 1967

5 years, 0 days

Vice President

Zakir Husain

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Independent

Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha

Radhakrishnan was a prominent philosopher and writer and also held the position of vice-chancellor of the Andhra University and Banaras Hindu University.[16] He received the Bharat Ratna award in 1954 before becoming the President.[17] He was the first President from South India.[18]

3

Zakir Husain†
(1897–1969)

1967

56.2%

13 May 1967

3 May 1969

1 year, 355 days

Vice President

Varahagiri Venkata Giri

style="background:Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color;"|

Independent

Kailas Nath Wanchoo

Husain was vice-chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University and a recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna.[19] He died in office, the first to do so. He was also the shortest-serving President. He was also the first Muslim President.[20]

–

Varahagiri Venkata Giri*
(1894–1980)

–

–

3 May 1969

20 July 1969

78 days

Vice President

–

–

–

He was elected Vice President of India in 1967. Following the death of President Zakir Husain, Giri was appointed as Acting President.[21] He resigned after a few months to take part in the presidential elections.[8]

–

Mohammad Hidayatullah*
(1905–1992)

File:Muhammad Hidayatullah.jpg

–

–

20 July 1969

24 August 1969

35 days

Chief Justice

–

–

–

Hidayatullah served as the Chief Justice of India and was also a recipient of the Order of the British Empire.[22] He served as Acting President until the election of Giri as the President of India.[23]

4

Varahagiri Venkata Giri
(1894–1980)

1969

50.8%

24 August 1969

24 August 1974

5 years, 0 days

Acting President

Gopal Swarup Pathak

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Independent

Mohammad Hidayatullah

Giri was the first person to have served as both an acting president and president of India. He was a recipient of the Bharat Ratna, and served as Labour and Employment Minister and High Commissioner to Ceylon (Sri Lanka).[24]

5

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed†
(1905–1977)

1974

79.9%

24 August 1974

11 February 1977

2 years, 171 days

Food and Agriculture Minister

Gopal Swarup Pathak (1974)

Basappa Danappa Jatti (1974–1977)

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Indian National Congress

A. N. Ray

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.[25] He was also president during Emergency.[26]

–

Basappa Danappa Jatti*
(1912–2002)

–

–

11 February 1977

25 July 1977

164 days

Vice President

–

–

–

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 served as the Chief Minister for the State of Mysore State.[25][27]

6

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
(1913–1996)

1977

elected unopposed

25 July 1977

25 July 1982

5 years, 0 days

Speaker of the Lok Sabha

Basappa Danappa Jatti (1977–1979)

Mohammad Hidayatullah (1979–1982)

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Janata Party

Mirza Hameedullah Beg

Reddy was the first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Reddy was the only Member of Parliament from the Janata Party to get elected from Andhra Pradesh.[28] 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.[23]

7

Zail Singh
(1916–1994)

1982

72.7%

25 July 1982

25 July 1987

5 years, 0 days

Home Minister

Mohammad Hidayatullah (1982–1984)

Ramaswamy Venkataraman (1984–1987)

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Indian National Congress

Y. V. Chandrachud

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[29]

8

Ramaswamy Venkataraman
(1910–2009)

1987

72.2%

25 July 1987

25 July 1992

5 years, 0 days

Vice President

Shankar Dayal Sharma

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Indian National Congress

Raghunandan Swarup Pathak

In 1942, Venkataraman was jailed by the British for his involvement in the Indian independence movement.[30] 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.[31]

9

Shankar Dayal Sharma
(1918–1999)

1992

65.8%

25 July 1992

25 July 1997

5 years, 0 days

Vice President

Kocheril Raman Narayanan

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Indian National Congress

Madhukar Hiralal Kania

Sharma was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, and the Indian Minister for Communications. He also served as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra.[32]

10

Kocheril Raman Narayanan
(1921–2005)

1997

92.8%

25 July 1997

25 July 2002

5 years, 0 days

Vice President

Krishan Kant

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Independent

J. S. Verma

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.[33] He was also the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University.[34] He was the first Dalit President.[35]

11

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam
(1931–2015)

2002

89.5%

25 July 2002

25 July 2007

5 years, 0 days

Chief Scientific Advisor of Prime Minister

Krishan Kant (2002)

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (2002–2007)

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Independent

Bhupinder Nath Kirpal

Kalam was an educator and engineer who played a leading role in the development of India's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.[36] He also received the Bharat Ratna. He was popularly known as "People's President".[37][38][39]

12

Pratibha Patil
(1934–)

2007

65.8%

25 July 2007

25 July 2012

5 years, 0 days

Governor of Rajasthan

Mohammad Hamid Ansari

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Indian National Congress

K. G. Balakrishnan

Patil was the first woman to become the President of India. She was also the first female governor of Rajasthan.[40][41]

13

Pranab Mukherjee
(1935–)

2012

69.3%

25 July 2012

25 July 2017

5 years, 0 days

Finance Minister

Mohammad Hamid Ansari

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Indian National Congress

S. H. Kapadia

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.[42]

14

Ram Nath Kovind
(1945–)

2017

65.6%

25 July 2017

Incumbent

7 years, 266 days

Governor of Bihar

Venkaiah Naidu

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Bharatiya Janata Party

Jagdish Singh Khehar

Kovind was governor of Bihar from 2015 to 2017 and a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 2006. He is the second Dalit president (after K. R. Narayanan) and is the first President from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is an active member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since his youth.[43]

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