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.

Presidents

This list is numbered based on presidents elected after winning an Indian presidential election. The terms of Varahagiri Venkata Giri, Mohammad Hidayatullah, and Basappa Danappa 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. The colours used in the table indicate the following:
;Other Symbols
-Died in office

-Did not complete assigned term

*-Acting President
;Timeline

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from: 26/01/1950 till: 13/05/1962 color:INC text:"Prasad" fontsize:10
from: 13/05/1962 till: 13/05/1967 color:idp text:"Radhakrishnan" fontsize:10
from: 13/05/1967 till: 03/05/1969 color:idp text:"Husain" fontsize:10
from: 03/05/1969 till: 20/07/1969 color:act text:"Giri " fontsize:10
from: 20/07/1969 till: 24/08/1969 color:act text:"Hidayatullah " fontsize:10
from: 24/08/1969 till: 24/08/1974 color:idp text:"Giri" fontsize:10
from: 24/08/1974 till: 11/02/1977 color:INC text:"Ahmed" fontsize:10
from: 11/02/1977 till: 25/07/1977 color:act text:"Jatti " fontsize:10
from: 25/07/1977 till: 25/07/1982 color:JP text:"Reddy" fontsize:10
from: 25/07/1982 till: 25/07/1987 color:INC text:"Singh" fontsize:10
from: 25/07/1987 till: 25/07/1992 color:INC text:"Venkataraman" fontsize:10
from: 25/07/1992 till: 25/07/1997 color:INC text:"Sharma" fontsize:10
from: 25/07/1997 till: 25/07/2002 color:idp text:"Narayanan" fontsize:10
from: 25/07/2002 till: 25/07/2007 color:idp text:"Kalam" fontsize:10
from: 25/07/2007 till: 25/07/2012 color:INC text:"Patil" fontsize:10
from: 25/07/2012 till:25/07/2017 color:INC text:"Mukherjee" fontsize:10
from: 25/07/2017 till:01/01/2018 color:BJP text:"Kovind" fontsize:10

General