Presidents and Vice-Presidents of India

The President is the head of the Republic of India and is the first citizen of India. Article 53 of the Indian Constitution states that all the executive powers of the Union shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him.

In the Constitution Part V (The Union) under Chapter I (The Executive), details of qualifications, election and impeachment of the President of India are given. Articles from 52 to 78 in Part V of the Constitution deal with the Union Executive. The President of India is also the head of the country’s executive, legislature and judiciary.

Article 52 of the Indian constitution says that there shall be a President of India. Dr Rajendra Prasad was the first President of India.

Article 74(1) of the Constitution states that there shall be a council of ministers with the Prime Minister as its head to aid and advice the President of India.

Prime Minister is the leader of the Cabinet Ministers. The main executive powers of the government are vested in the Prime Minister, while the President is the nominal head of the State.

List of Presidents of India

The Constitution of India was adopted on 26th November 1949 (It came into force on 26th January 1950), and Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected as the first constitutional head of the state, the President of India.

S. No.	Name	Tenure
1	Rajendra Prasad	13 May 1952 – 13 May 1957 13 May 1957 – 13 May 1962
2	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	13 May 1962 – 13 May 1967
3	Zakir Hussain	13 May 1967 – 3 May 1969
4	Varahagiri Venkata Giri	3 May 1969 – 20 July 1969 24 August 1969 – 24 August 1974
5	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed	24 August 1974 – 11 February 1977
6	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy	25 July 1977 – 25 July 1982
7	Zail Singh	25 July 1982 – 25 July 1987
8	Ramaswamy Venkataraman	25 July 1987 – 25 July 1992
9	Shankar Dayal Sharma	25 July 1992 – 25 July 1997
10	Kocheril Raman Narayanan	25 July 1997 – 25 July 2002
11	Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam	25 July 2002 – 25 July 2007
12	Pratibha Patil	25 July 2007 – 25 July 2012
13	Pranab Mukherjee	25 July 2012 – 25 July 2017
14	Ram Nath Kovind	25 July 2017 – 25 July 2022
15	Droupadi Murmu	25 July 2022 – Incumbent

Vice President of India

The vice-President of India is the 2nd most important authoritative body after the President. As per Article 65 of the Indian Constitution, he is entitled to take important decisions in some instances of contingency due to resignation, removal, death, impeachment or the inability of the president to discharge his/her functions.

The Vice-President of India is the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Article 63 of the Indian Constitution states, “there shall be a Vice-President of India. The Vice-President is elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of the members of both houses of the Parliament. The state legislature has no role in his election.

List of Vice-Presidents of India

S. No.	Name	Tenure
1	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	13 May 1952 – 12 May 1957 13 May 1957 – 12 May 1962
2	Zakir Hussain	13 May 1962 – 12 May 1967
3	V. V. Giri	13 May 1967 – 3 May 1969
4	Gopal Swarup Pathak	31 August 1969 – 30 August 1974
5	B. D. Jatti	31 August 1974 – 30 August 1979
6	Mohammad Hidayatullah	31 August 1979 – 30 August 1984
7	R. Venkataraman	31 August 1984 – 24 July 1987
8	Shankar Dayal Sharma	3 September 1987 – 24 July 1992
9	K. R. Narayanan	21 August 1992 – 24 July 1997
10	Krishan Kant	21 August 1997 – 27 July 2002
11	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat	19 August 2002 – 21 July 2007
12	Mohammad Hamid Ansari	11 August 2007 – 11 August 2012 11 August 2012 – 11 August 2017
13	Venkaiah Naidu	11 August 2017 – Incumbent

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