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Facto Exercised by The

The President of India is the ceremonial head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. While vested with powers by the constitution, executive powers are exercised by the Prime Minister and cabinet. The president is elected by an electoral college composed of members of parliament and state legislative assemblies and serves five-year terms, with Rajendra Prasad being the only person to serve two terms. Seven presidents have been members of political parties prior to election, mostly from the Indian National Congress party. Two presidents have died in office.

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49 views1 page

Facto Exercised by The

The President of India is the ceremonial head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. While vested with powers by the constitution, executive powers are exercised by the Prime Minister and cabinet. The president is elected by an electoral college composed of members of parliament and state legislative assemblies and serves five-year terms, with Rajendra Prasad being the only person to serve two terms. Seven presidents have been members of political parties prior to election, mostly from the Indian National Congress party. Two presidents have died in office.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India.

The President is also


the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces.[1] Although the president is vested such powers
by the Constitution of India, the position is largely a ceremonial role and the executive powers are de
facto exercised by the Cabinet Ministers and Prime Minister.[2] The post of President is known in
Hindi as Rashtrapati, a Sanskrit neologismmeaning "lord of the realm". The President is elected by
the Electoral College composed of elected members of the parliament houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya
Sabha, and also members of the Vidhan Sabha, the state legislative assemblies.[1]
There have been 13 presidents of India since the introduction of the post in 1950. The post was
established when India was declared as a republic with the adoption of the Indian
constitution.[3] Apart from these thirteen, three acting presidents have also been in office for short
periods of time. Varahagiri Venkata Giri became Acting President of India in 1969 following the
death of Zakir Hussain, who 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. The President
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.[1] Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, is the only person to have held office for
two terms.[4]
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
Hussain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, have died in office. Their vice-presidents functioned as acting
president until a new president was elected. Following Hussain's death, two acting presidents held
office until the new president, Varahagiri Venkata Giri, was elected. Varahagiri Venkata Giri himself,
Hussain's vice president, was the first acting president. When Giri resigned to take part in the
presidential elections, he was superseded by Muhammad Hidayatullah as acting president.[5] The
current President is Pranab Mukherjee elected on 25 July 2012. 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. He originally comes from West
Bengal and is also the firstBengali to hold the post of the President.[6] The ex- president, Pratibha
Patil, who was in office till 25 July 2012, was elected as the 12th President of India in 2007. She is
also the first woman to serve as President of India.[7] Since 1977, presidency was regularly left and
token on July 25.

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