| Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of India | |
|---|---|
| Bhārat Ke Upapradhānamantrī | |
 | |
 | |
Incumbent since 23 May 2004Vacant | |
| Government of India | |
| Style |
|
| Type | DeputyHead of government |
| Status | Deputy Leader of the Executive |
| Member of | |
| Reports to | |
| Nominator | Prime Minister of India |
| Appointer | President of India |
| Term length | At the pleasure of the president
|
| Constituting instrument | Not mentioned in theConstitution of India |
| Formation | 15 August 1947; 78 years, 123 days ago |
| First holder | Vallabhbhai Patel |
| Final holder | L. K. Advani |
Thedeputy prime minister of India (IAST:Bhārat Ke Upapradhānamantrī), although not a Constitutional post, is the second-highest ranking minister of the Union in the executive branch of theGovernment of India and is a senior member of theUnion Council of Ministers. The office holder also deputises for theprime minister in their absence.
The sitting deputy prime minister ranks fourth in theOrder of Precedence of India[1] and is nominated by prime minister and appointed by the president of India.
The longest-serving deputy prime minister was the first deputy prime minister,Vallabhbhai Patel, whose tenure lasted 3 years and 122 days. His premiership was followed byMorarji Desai,Charan Singh,Jagjivan Ram,Yashwantrao Chavan,Devi Lal andL.K. Advani.
The office has since been only intermittently occupied, having been occupied for a little more than 10 years out of the 75 years since its inception. Since 1950 India has had 7 deputy prime ministers, of which none having at least one full term.
India follows aparliamentary system in which the deputy prime minister is the presiding deputyhead of the government and deputy chief of the executive of the government. The deputy prime minister must become amember of parliament within six months of beginning their tenure, if they are not one already.
Since 1947, there have been 7 different deputy prime ministers. The first wasVallabhbhai Patel of theIndian National Congress party, who was sworn in on 15 August 1947, when Indiagained independence from theBritish Raj. Serving until his death in December 1950, Patel remains India's longest-serving deputy prime minister.
After Patel, the post was vacant untilMorarji Desai became the second deputy prime minister in 1967 and has the second-longest tenure. Morarji Desai andCharan Singh were the deputy prime ministers who later becamePrime Minister of India.
After Desai, the post was vacant again for almost 10 years.
In less than a year there were 3 different deputy prime ministers,Charan Singh andJagjivan Ram became deputy prime ministers simultaneously under one ministry, and they were consecutively followed byYashwantrao Chavan without any break, who became deputy prime minister in a different ministry.
After Chavan, the post was vacant again for almost 10 years.
Devi Lal is the only deputy prime minister to represent both parties in the same post. The post was vacant for 100 days between the two terms of Devi Lal.
After Lal, the post was vacant again for more than 11 years.
Lal Krishna Advani was the seventh person to serve as the deputy prime minister of India until the post became vacant.
| BJP (1) INC (2) INC(U) (1) JD (1) JP (2) SJP(R) (1) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait | Name (born – died) Constituency | Term of office Duration in years and days | Other ministerial offices held | Political party | Ministry | Prime Minister | |||||
 | Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950) Bombay (Constituent Assembly) | 15 August 1947 | 15 December 1950[†] | Indian National Congress | Nehru I | Jawaharlal Nehru | |||||
| 3 years, 122 days | |||||||||||
| Position not in use (15 December 1950 – 12 March 1967) – 16 years, 87 days, | |||||||||||
 | Morarji Desai (1896–1995) MP forSurat | 13 March 1967 | 19 July 1969 [RES] |
| Indian National Congress | Indira II | Indira Gandhi | ||||
| 2 years, 128 days | |||||||||||
| Position not in use (20 July 1969 – 23 January 1979) – 9 years, 187 days | |||||||||||
 | Charan Singh (1902–1987) MP forBaghpat | 24 January 1979 | 16 July 1979 [RES] | Janata Party | Desai | Morarji Desai | |||||
| 173 days | |||||||||||
 | Jagjivan Ram (1908–1986) MP forSasaram | 24 January 1979 | 28 July 1979 [RES] | ||||||||
| 185 days | |||||||||||
 | Yashwantrao Chavan (1913–1984) MP forSatara | 28 July 1979 | 14 January 1980 | Indian National Congress (Urs) | Charan | Charan Singh | |||||
| 170 days | |||||||||||
| Position not in use (14 January 1980 – 1 December 1989) – 9 years, 321 days | |||||||||||
 | Devi Lal (1915–2001) MP forSikar | 2 December 1989 | 1 August 1990 [RES] | Janata Dal | Singh | V. P. Singh | |||||
| 242 days | |||||||||||
| Position not in use (1 August 1990 – 9 November 1990) – 100 days | |||||||||||
| Devi Lal (1915–2001) MP forSikar | 10 November 1990 | 21 June 1991 [RES] |
| Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) | Shekhar | Chandra Shekhar | ||||
| 223 days | |||||||||||
| Position not in use (22 June 1991 – 28 June 2002) – 11 years, 6 days | |||||||||||
 | Lal Krishna Advani (born 1927) MP forGandhinagar | 29 June 2002 | 22 May 2004 | Bharatiya Janata Party | Vajpayee III | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | |||||
| 1 year, 328 days | |||||||||||
| Position not in use (22 May 2004 –present) – 21 years, 208 days | |||||||||||
| No. | Name | Party | Length of term | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longest continuous term | Total years of deputy prime ministership | ||||||
| 1 | Vallabhbhai Patel | INC | 3 years, 122 days | ||||
| 2 | Morarji Desai | 2 years, 128 days | |||||
| 3 | Lal Krishna Advani | BJP | 1 year, 328 days | ||||
| 4 | Devi Lal | JD | SJP(R) | 242 days | 1 year, 100 days | ||
| 5 | Jagjivan Ram | JP | 185 days | ||||
| 6 | Charan Singh | 173 days | |||||
| 7 | Yashwantrao Chavan | INC(U) | 170 days | ||||
| No. | Political party | Number of Deputy Prime ministers | Total days of holding DPMO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indian National Congress | 2 | 2077 days |
| 2 | Bharatiya Janata Party | 1 | 693 days |
| 3 | Janata Dal | 1 | 242 days |
| 4 | Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) | 1 | 223 days |
| 5 | Janata Party | 2 | 185 days |
| 6 | Indian National Congress (Urs) | 1 | 170 days |
| Deputy Prime Ministers |
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| Elections | ||
