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Thepresident of India is thehead of state of theRepublic of India and thesupreme commander of theIndian Armed Forces. The president is referred to as the first citizen of India.[1][2] Although vested with these powers by the Constitution of India, the position is largely a ceremonial one and executive powers arede facto exercised by theprime minister.[3]
The president is elected by theElectoral College composed of elected members of the parliament houses, theLok Sabha and theRajya Sabha, and also members of theVidhan Sabha, the state legislative assemblies.[2] Presidents may remain in office for a tenure of five years, as stated by article 56, part V, of theConstitution 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.
There have been 15 presidents of India since the post was established when India was declared as a republic with the adoption of theIndian constitution in 1950.[4] Apart from these fifteen, threeacting presidents have also been in office for short periods of time.V. V. Giri became the acting president in 1969 afterZakir Husain 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.Rajendra Prasad, the first president of India, is the only person to have held office for two terms.[5]
Seven presidents have been members of a political party before being elected. Six of these were active party members of theIndian National Congress. TheJanata Party has had one member,Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, who later became president. Two presidents,Zakir Husain andFakhruddin Ali Ahmed, have died in office. Their vice presidents served as acting presidents until a new president was elected. Following Zakir Husain's death, two acting presidents held office until the new president,V. V. Giri, was elected. When Giri resigned to take part in the presidential elections, he was succeeded byMohammad Hidayatullah as acting president.[6]Pratibha Patil is the first woman to hold the office, elected in2007.
On 25 July2022,Droupadi Murmu took office as thepresident of India, becoming the second woman and the first tribal person to hold the office.[7]
This list is numbered based on presidents elected after winning an Indian presidential election. The terms ofV. V. Giri,Mohammad Hidayatullah andB. D. Jatti, who served as acting president are therefore not numbered or counted as actual terms in office. The president of India does not represent any political party.
Indian National Congress (INC) (8) Janata Party (JP) (1) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (2) Independent (IND) (4) Acting President (3) |
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| # | Portrait | Name | Term of office[8] | Election | Vice president | Party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Rajendra Prasad | 26 January 1950 | 13 May 1962 | 12 years, 107 days | 1952 | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | Indian National Congress | |
| 1957 | |||||||||
| 2 |  | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | 13 May 1962 | 13 May 1967 | 5 years, 0 days | 1962 | Zakir Husain | Independent | |
| 3 | | Zakir Husain† | 13 May 1967 | 3 May 1969 | 1 year, 355 days | 1967 | V. V. Giri | ||
| – |  | V. V. Giri | 3 May 1969 | 20 July 1969 | 78 days | – | |||
| – |  | Mohammad Hidayatullah | 20 July 1969 | 24 August 1969 | 35 days | – | |||
| 4 | | V. V. Giri | 24 August 1969 | 24 August 1974 | 5 years, 0 days | 1969 | Gopal Swarup Pathak | Independent | |
| 5 |  | Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed† | 24 August 1974 | 11 February 1977 | 2 years, 171 days | 1974 | Gopal Swarup Pathak | Indian National Congress | |
| – |  | B. D. Jatti | 11 February 1977 | 25 July 1977 | 164 days | – | |||
| 6 |  | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | 25 July 1977 | 25 July 1982 | 5 years, 0 days | 1977 | B. D. Jatti | Janata Party | |
| 7 |  | Zail Singh | 25 July 1982 | 25 July 1987 | 5 years, 0 days | 1982 | Mohammad Hidayatullah | Indian National Congress | |
| 8 | _(cropped).jpg) | Ramaswamy Venkataraman | 25 July 1987 | 25 July 1992 | 5 years, 0 days | 1987 | Shankar Dayal Sharma | ||
| 9 |  | Shankar Dayal Sharma | 25 July 1992 | 25 July 1997 | 5 years, 0 days | 1992 | K. R. Narayanan | ||
| 10 |  | K. R. Narayanan | 25 July 1997 | 25 July 2002 | 5 years, 0 days | 1997 | Krishan Kant | ||
| 11 |  | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam | 25 July 2002 | 25 July 2007 | 5 years, 0 days | 2002 | Krishan Kant | Independent | |
| 12 | | Pratibha Patil | 25 July 2007 | 25 July 2012 | 5 years, 0 days | 2007 | Hamid Ansari | Indian National Congress | |
| 13 |  | Pranab Mukherjee | 25 July 2012 | 25 July 2017 | 5 years, 0 days | 2012 | |||
| 14 |  | Ram Nath Kovind | 25 July 2017 | 25 July 2022 | 5 years, 0 days | 2017 | Hamid Ansari | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
| 15 |  | Droupadi Murmu | 25 July 2022 | Incumbent | 3 years, 123 days | 2022 | Venkaiah Naidu | ||
| Presidents |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Acting | ||
| Elections | ||
| Constitution |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Executive | ||
| Legislature | ||
| Judiciary | ||
