List of presidents of India

The president of India is the head of state of India and the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. The president is referred to as the first citizen of India. Although vested with these powers by the Constitution of India, the position is largely a ceremonial one and executive powers are de facto exercised by the prime minister.

The president is elected by the Electoral College composed of elected members of the parliament houses, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and also members of the Vidhan Sabha, the state legislative assemblies. Presidents 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.

There have been 14 presidents of India since the post was established when India was declared as a republic with the adoption of the Indian constitution in 1950. Apart from these fourteen, three acting presidents have also been in office for short periods of time. Varahagiri Venkata Giri became the acting president in 1969 after Zakir 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.

Seven presidents have been members of a political party before being elected. Six of these were active party members of the Indian National Congress. The Janata Party has had one member, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, who later became president. Two presidents, Zakir Husain and Fakhruddin 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 by Mohammad Hidayatullah as acting president. The 12th president, Pratibha Patil, is the first woman to hold the office, elected in 2007.

On 25 July 2017, Ram Nath Kovind took office as the 14th president of India.

List

  Acting President (3)

   President was an Independent candidate (5)

  President was a candidate of Indian National Congress (INC) (7)

  President was a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (1)

  President was a candidate of the Janata Party (JP) (1)

Key

-Died in office
-Resigned

Legend

№	President (birth–death)	Portrait	Tenure		Elected	Political affiliation (at time of appointment)	Prime Minister
			Took office	Left office
1	Rajendra Prasad (1884–1963)		26 January 1950	13 May 1962	1952 1957	Indian National Congress	Nehru
2	Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975)		13 May 1962	13 May 1967	1962	Independent	Nehru Nanda Shastri Nanda Gandhi
3	Zakir Husain (1897–1969)		13 May 1967	3 May 1969 (died in office.)	1967	Independent	Gandhi
4	V. V. Giri (1894–1980)		3 May 1969	20 July 1969	1969	Independent	Gandhi
5	Mohammad Hidayatullah (1905–1992)		20 July 1969	24 August 1969	1969	Independent	Gandhi
(4)	V. V. Giri (1894–1980)		24 August 1969	24 August 1974	1969	Independent	Gandhi
6	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1905–1977)		24 August 1974	11 February 1977 (died in office.)	1974	Indian National Congress	Gandhi
7	B. D. Jatti (1912–2002)		11 February 1977	25 July 1977	—	Indian National Congress	Gandhi Desai
8	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (1913–1996)		25 July 1977	25 July 1982	1977	Janata Party	Desai Singh Gandhi
9	Giani Zail Singh (1916–1994)		25 July 1982	25 July 1983	1982	Indian National Congress	Gandhi Gandhi
(5)	Mohammad Hidayatullah (1905–1992)		25 July 1983	25 July 1983	—	Indian National Congress	Gandhi Gandhi
(9)	Giani Zail Singh (1916–1994)		25 July 1983	25 July 1984	—	Indian National Congress	Gandhi Gandhi
(5)	Mohammad Hidayatullah (1905–1992)		25 July 1984	25 July 1984	—	Indian National Congress	Gandhi Gandhi
(9)	Giani Zail Singh (1916–1994)		25 July 1984	25 July 1987	—	Indian National Congress	Gandhi Gandhi
10	R. Venkataraman (1910–2009)		25 July 1987	25 July 1992	1987	Indian National Congress	Gandhi Singh Shekhar Rao
11	Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918–1999)		25 July 1992	25 July 1997	1992	Indian National Congress	Rao Vajpayee Deve Gowda Gujral
12	K. R. Narayanan (1920–2005)		25 July 1997	25 July 2002	1997	Indian National Congress	Gujral Vajpayee
13	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1931–2015)		25 July 2002	25 July 2007	2002	Independent	Vajpayee Singh
14	Pratibha Patil (1934–)		25 July 2007	25 July 2012	2007	Indian National Congress	Singh
15	Pranab Mukherjee (1935–2020)		25 July 2012	25 July 2017	2012	Indian National Congress	Singh Modi
16	Ram Nath Kovind (1945–)		25 July 2017	25 July 2022	2017	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi
17	Draupadi Murmu (1958 —)		25 July 2022	Incumbent	2022	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi

Acting presidents of India

This list is numbered based on vice presidents elected after winning an Indian Acting Presidential election. The Acting President of India does not represent any political party.

No.	Name (birth–death)	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Party
—	Gopal Swarup Pathak (1896–1982)		31 August 1969	31 August 1969	Independent
—	Mohammad Hidayatullah (1905–1992)		31 August 1979	30 August 1984	Independent
—	Krishan Kant(1927–2002)		21 July 2001	25 July 2001	Janata Dal
—	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (1924–2010)		1 July 2007	21 July 2007	Bharatiya Janata Party
—	Mohammad Hamid Ansari (1937–)		11 August 2007	11 August 2007	Indian National Congress
			11 August 2012	11 August 2012
—	Venkaiah Naidu (1949–)		11 August 2017	11 August 2017	Bharatiya Janata Party

Statistics

Representation of presidents by party of candidacy

  Indian National Congress (57.14%)

  Independent (28.58%)

  Bharatiya Janata Party (7.14%)

  Janata Party (7.14%)

Timeline

See also

• President of India
• Vice President of India
• Prime Minister of India
• List of vice presidents of India
• List of prime ministers of India
• List of heads of state and government of Indian origin