Took Left Political

Name Notes
office office party
Prasad was the first
President of independent
India. He was also an
independence activist of
Rajendra 26-Jan- 13-May- Indian National
1 the Indian Independence
Prasad 1950 1962 Congress
Movement. Prasad was
the only president to
serve for two terms in
office.
Radhakrishnan was a
prominent philosopher,
writer, a Knight of the
Realm and also held the
position of vice
Sarvepalli 13-May- 13-May-
2 Independent chancellor of the Andhra
Radhakrishnan 1962 1967
University and Banaras
Hindu University. He
was also made a Knight
of the Golden Army of
Angels by Pope Paul VI.
Hussain was vice
chancellor of the Aligarh
Muslim University and a
13-May- recipient of Padma
3 Zakir Hussain 3-May-1969 Independent
1967 Vibhushan and Bharat
Ratna. He died before
his term of office was
ended.
Giri was appointed as
acting president
following the death of
Varahagiri 3-May- Hussain. He resigned in
20-Jul-1969 Independent
Venkata Giri * 1969 a few months to take
part
in the presidential
elections.
Hidayatullah served as
the Chief Justice of
India, and was a
recipient of the Order of
Muhammad 20-Jul-
24-Aug-1969 Independent the British Empire. He
Hidayatullah * 1969
served as acting
president until the
election of Giri as the
President of India.
 Giri is the only person to
have served as both an
acting president and
president of India. He
Varahagiri 24-Aug- was a recipient of
4 24-Aug-1974 Independent
Venkata Giri 1969 the Bharat Ratna, and
has functioned as Indian
Minister of Labour and
High Commissioner to
Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
served as a Minister
before being elected as
president. He died in
Fakhruddin Ali 24-Aug- Indian National
5 11-Feb-1977 1977 before his term of
Ahmed 1974 Congress
office ended, and was
the second Indian
president to have died
during a term of office.
Jatti was the vice
president of India during
Ahmed's term of office,
and was sworn in as
Basappa 11-Feb-
25-Jul-1977 Independent acting president upon
Danappa Jatti * 1977
Ahmed's death. He
earlier functioned as the
Chief Minister for the
State of Mysore.
Reddy was the only
Member of
Parliament from the
Janata Party to get
elected from Andhra
Pradesh. He was
Neelam Sanjiva 25-Jul- unanimously elected
6 25-Jul-1982 Janata Party
Reddy 1977 Speaker of the Lok
Sabha on 26 March 1977
and relinquished this
office on 13 July 1977 to
become the 6th
President of
India.
In March 1972, Singh
assumed the position of
25-Jul- Indian National
7 Giani Zail Singh 25-Jul-1987 chief Minister of Punjab,
1982 Congress
and in 1980, he became
Union Home Minister.
In 1942, Venkataraman
Ramaswamy 25-Jul- Indian National was jailed by the British
8 25-Jul-1992
Venkataraman 1987 Congress for his involvement in
the India's independence
 movement.
After his release, he was
elected to independent
India’s Provisional
Parliament as a member
of the Congress Party in
1950 and eventually
joined
the central government,
where he first served as
Minister of Finance and
Industry and later as
Minister of Defence.
Sharma was Chief
Minister of Madhya
Pradesh, and the Indian
Minister for
Shankar Dayal 25-Jul- Indian National
9 25-Jul-1997 Communications. He has
Sharma 1992 Congress
also served as the
governor of Andhra
Pradesh, Punjab and
Maharashtra.
Narayanan served as
India's ambassador to
Thailand, Turkey, China
and United States of
America. He received
Kocheril Raman 25-Jul- doctorates in Science
10 25-Jul-2002 Independent
Narayanan 1997 and Law and was also a
chancellor in several
universities. He was also
the vice-chancellor of
Jawaharlal Nehru
University.
Kalam was a scientist
who played a leading
role in the development
A. P. J. Abdul 25-Jul- of India's ballistic missile
11 25-Jul-2007 Independent
Kalam 2002 and nuclear weapons
programs. Kalam also
received the Bharat
Ratna.
Patil was the first woman
to become President of
25-Jul- Indian National
12 Pratibha Patil Incumbent India. She was also the
2007 Congress
first female Governor of
Rajasthan
# Portrait Name
(Birth–Death); Constituency Term of office Electoral mandates
(Lok Sabha) Political party Refs 1 1
•
2
•

3 Jawaharlal Nehru
(1889–1964)
MP for Phulpur 15 August
1947 27 May
1964 [1] 1951 (1st) • 1957 (2nd) • 1962 (3rd) Indian National Congress [1] Indo-Pakistani War of 1947; created
Planning commission of India and initiated Five-year plan to increase government investment in agriculture and
industry; launched programmes to build irrigation canals, dams and spread the use of fertilizers to increase
agricultural production; oversaw widespread poverty and unemployment, even with improvements in agriculture
and infrastructure; oversaw establishment of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian Institutes of Technology
and Indian Institutes of Management; criminalized caste discrimination and increased the legal rights and social
freedoms of women; pioneered the policy of non-alignment and co-founded the Non-Aligned Movement; Sino-
Indian War; signed the Indus Waters Treaty; granted asylum to the Dalai Lama; oversaw liberation of Goa. 2 –

Gulzarilal Nanda
(1898–1998)
MP for Sabarkantha 27 May
1964 (int) 9 June
1964 — (3rd) Indian National Congress [2] Was caretaker Prime Minister until the election of Lal Bahadur Shastri.

34 Lal Bahadur Shastri

(1904–1966)
MP for Allahabad 9 June
1964 11 January
1966 [1] — (3rd) Indian National Congress [3] Indo-Pakistani War of 1965; pushed for Green Revolution in India
and Operation Flood; The National Dairy Development Board was formed; died from a heart attack at a summit in

Tashkent. (2) – Gulzarilal Nanda

(1898–1998)
MP for Sabarkantha 11 January
1966 (int) 24 January
1966 — (3rd) Indian National Congress [2] Was in office as caretaker prime minister once again, until Indira
Gandhi was chosen as the new leader. 4 5
•
6 Indira Gandhi
(1917–1984)
MP for Rae Bareli 24 January
1966 24 March
1977 — (3rd) • 1967 (4th) • 1971 (5th) Indian National Congress [4] Nationalized banks; won the Indo-Pakistani
War of 1971, which resulted in the formation of Bangladesh; signed the Shimla Agreement; tested the first nuclear
weapon with Smiling Buddha; initiated Green Revolution in India; established state of emergency from 1975-1977.

57 Morarji Desai
(1896–1995)
MP for Surat 24 March
1977 28 July
1979 [4] 1977 (6th) Janata Party [5] Ended the state of emergency initiated by Indira Gandhi; improved relations
with Pakistan, China and the United States; softened its relationship with the Soviet Union; launched Sixth Five-
Year Plan, aiming to boost agricultural production and rural industries; the plan proved unsuccessful leading to
resurging inflation, fuel shortages, unemployment and poverty; lost many MPs from Janata Party, including his rival

Charan Singh, which led to his resignation. 6 8 Charan Singh

(1902–1987)
MP for Baghpat 28 July
1979 14 January
1980 [3] — (6th) Janata Party [6] Initiated high level diplomatic relations with Israel; lost support of Congress, which

led to his resignation without even a single session of Lok Sabha. (4) 9 Indira Gandhi
(1917–1984)
MP for Rae Bareli 14 January
1980 [2] 31 October
1984 [1] 1980 (7th) Indian National Congress (Indira) [7] Operation Bluestar, which subsequently led to her

assassination. 7 10 Rajiv Gandhi

(1944–1991)
MP for Amethi 31 October
1984 2 December
1989 1984 (8th) Indian National Congress [8] 1984 anti-Sikh riots; significantly reduced License Raj; expanded
telecommunications in India; signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord; Bofors scandal; nullified the Supreme Court's

judgement on Shah Bano case. 8 11 V. P. Singh

(1931–2008)
MP for Fatehpur 2 December
1989 10 November
1990 [3] 1989 (9th) Janata Dal [9] Negotiated terrorist kidnapping of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's daughter; visited
Golden Temple to ask for forgiveness for Operation Bluestar; withdrew IPKF from Sri Lanka; initiated fixed
quota/reservation for all public sector jobs as per recommendation from Mandal Commission; Ram Janmabhoomi

agitation and subsequent loss of vote of no confidence because of it. 9 12 Chandra Shekhar Singh
(1927–2007)
MP for Ballia 10 November
1990 21 June

1991 — (9th) Samajwadi Janata Party [10] Resigned due to accusations of spying on former Prime Minister Rajiv

Gandhi, and subsequent withdrawal of Congress' support; Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. 10 13 P. V.

Narasimha Rao
(1921–2004)
MP for Nandyal 21 June
1991 16 May
1996 1991 (10th) Indian National Congress [11] Initiated Economic liberalization in India; SEBI Act 1992; formation
of National Stock Exchange of India; 1993 Bombay bombings; introduced TADA; Demolition of Babri Masjid. 11 14

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

(1924– )
MP for Lucknow 16 May
1996 1 June
1996 [3] 1996† (11th) Bharatiya Janata Party [12] Hung parliament†. Was in power for only 13 days, after BJP could

not gather enough support from other parties to form a majority. 12 15 H. D. Deve Gowda
(1933– )
MP for Karnataka 1 June
1996 21 April
1997 [3] 1996† (11th) Janata Dal [12] Hung parliament†. After a failed attempt of forming a BJP government,
Congress refused to form a government and instead supported a minority United Front coalition led by Janata Dal.
President of China Jiang Zemin begins the first visit by a Chinese head of state to India; initiates President's rule in

Gujarat. 13 16 Inder Kumar Gujral

(1919– )
MP for Bihar 21 April
1997 19 March
1998 — (11th) Janata Dal [13] Fodder scam; Jain Commission. (11) 17
•

18 Atal Bihari Vajpayee

(1924– )
MP for Lucknow 19 March
1998 [2] 22 May
2004 1998 (12th) • 1999 (13th) Bharatiya Janata Party [14] Pokhran nuclear tests; Kargil War; National Highway
Development Project; Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana; Barak Missile Deal Scandal;POTA; Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan; 2001 Gujarat earthquake; 2002 Gujarat violence. 14 19
•

20 Dr. Manmohan Singh

(1932– )
Rajya Sabha Member for Assam 22 May
2004 Incumbent 2004 (14th) • 2009 (15th) Indian National Congress [15] Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement; won
the 2008 Lok Sabha vote of confidence; Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline; expanding ties with Israel; Economic crisis
of 2008; National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA); Right to Information Act; revoking of POTA; 2008
Mumbai attacks and the implementation of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act;
National_Investigation_Agency_(India);.