List of Presidents of India - General Knowledge

The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India. The President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of India. 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. The President is elected by an 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.

Presidents of India

List of 13 Presidents of India

Dr. Rajendra Prasad

Term of Office: January 26, 1950, to May 13, 1962

Birth Date: Dec 3, 1884
Death Date: Feb 28, 1963
Birth Place: Jiradei
Took President Office: Jan 26, 1950
Left President Office: May 13, 1962

Dr. Rajendra Prasad was one of the architects of the Indian Republic and played a crucial role in drafting the first Constitution of the country. He served twice as the President of India (January 26, 1950 - May 13, 1962). He is the only President of India who was elected twice to the post. In 1962, he retired and returned to Patna where he stayed on the campus of Bihar Vidyapeeth. He was subsequently awarded the Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian award, in 1962.

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Term of Office: May 13, 1962, to May 13, 1967

Birth Date: Sep 5, 1888
Death Date: Apr 17, 1975
Birth Place: Thiruttani
Took President Office: May 13, 1962
Left President Office: May 13, 1967

Dr. Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the first Vice President of India (1952-1962). He became the second President of India after Dr. Rajendra Prasad retired in 1962. One of India’s most influential scholars of comparative religion and philosophy, Dr. Radhakrishnan is thought of as having built a bridge between the East and the West by showing that the philosophical systems of each tradition are comprehensible within the terms of the other. Among the many honors, he received were a knighthood (1931), the Bharat Ratna (1954), and the Order of Merit in 1963. His birthday is celebrated in India as Teachers’ Day on September 5, every year.

Dr. Zakir Hussain

Term of Office: May 13, 1967, to May 3, 1969

Birth Date: Feb 8, 1897
Death Date: May 3, 1969
Birth Place: Hyderabad
Took President Office: May 13, 1967
Left President Office: May 3, 1969

Dr. Zakir Hussain was the third President of India from May 13, 1967, until his death on May 3, 1969. He was the first Muslim President of India. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1963.

Dr. V.V. Giri

Term of Office: May 3, 1969, to July 20, 1969, and August 24, 1969, to August 24, 1974

Birth Date: Aug 10, 1894
Death Date: June 23, 1980
Birth Place: Berhampur
Took President Office: Aug 24, 1969
Left President Office: Aug 24, 1974

A prolific writer and a good orator, Dr. VV Giri was elected as the third Vice President of India in 1967. However, he became acting President of India in 1969 upon the death of then President Dr. Zakir Hussain. He later contested for the post in the ensuing election and won. He served as President of India till 1974 and was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1975.

Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed

Term of Office: August 24, 1974, to February 11, 1977

Birth Date: May 13, 1905
Death Date: Feb 11, 1977
Birth Place: Delhi
Took President Office: Aug 24, 1974
Left President Office: Feb 11, 1977

Picked for the presidency by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974, Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed became the second Muslim to be elected as President. He took office on August 20, 1974. He okayed the promulgation of the Emergency in 1975. He is well known among Indian diplomats for his visit to Sudan in 1975 where the whole town showed up to see him. He died on February 11, 1977, becoming the second Indian President to die in office.

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy

Term of Office: July 25, 1977, to July 25, 1982

Birth Date: May 19, 1913
Death Date: Jun 1, 1996
Birth Place: Illur
Took President Office: Jul 25, 1977
Left President Office: Jul 25, 1982

Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy was the 6^th and the youngest President of India, serving from 1977 to 1982, and was the only person to be elected President of India unopposed. Regarded as one of the best speakers ever in the Lok Sabha, he had said that he would not remain a ’rubber stamp President’ and proved himself to be the most dynamic President of India.

Giani Zail Singh

Term of Office: July 25, 1982, to July 25, 1987

Birth Date: May 5, 1916
Death Date: Dec 25, 1994
Birth Place: Sandhwan
Took President Office: July 25, 1982
Left President Office: Jul 25, 1987

The 7^th President of India served from 1982 to 1987, Giani Zail Singh’s term was marked by Operation Bluestar, the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. After Operation Bluestar, fearing that it would aggravate the situation, he decided against resigning from the post of President. He was called before the Akal Takht to apologize and explain his inaction following the desecration of the Harmandir Sahib and the killing of innocent Sikhs.

R Venkataraman

Term of Office: July 25, 1987, to July 25, 1992

Birth Date: Dec 4, 1910
Death Date: Jan 27, 2009
Birth Place: Thanjavur
Took President Office: Jul 25, 1987
Left President Office: Jul 25, 1992

A lawyer by qualification and an Independence activist and politician, Ramaswamy Venkataraman became the 8^th President of India in 1987 after Giani Zail Singh. He is the only President of India who has worked with four prime ministers and appointed three of them: V P Singh, Chandra Shekhar, and P V Narasimha Rao, during his five-year term, which saw the advent of coalition politics in India.

Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma

Term of Office: July 25, 1992, to July 25, 1997

Birth Date: Aug 19, 1918
Death Date: Dec 26, 1999
Birth Place: Madhya Pradesh
Took President Office: Jul 25, 1992
Left President Office: Jul 25, 1997

He was the 9^th President of India serving from 1992 to 1997. Prior to his presidency, Dr. Sharma was the eighth Vice President of India, serving under President R Venkataraman.

K.R. Narayanan

Term of Office: July 25, 1997, to July 25, 2002

Birth Date: Oct 27, 1920
Death Date: Nov 9, 2005
Birth Place: Perumthanam
Took President Office: Jul 25, 1997
Left President Office: Jul 24, 2002

Kocheril Raman Narayanan was the 10^th President of India and the first Dalit in the high office. Narayanan was regarded as an independent and assertive President who set several precedents and enlarged the scope of the highest Constitutional office. He used his discretionary powers as President and deviated from convention and precedent in many situations, including but not limited to the appointment of the PM in a hung Parliament, dismissing a state government, and imposing President’s rule there at the suggestion of the Union Cabinet, and during the Kargil conflict.

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Term of Office: July 25, 2002, to July 25, 2007

Birth Date: Oct 15, 1931
Birth Place: Rameshwaram
Took President Office: July 25, 2002
Left President Office: Jul 24, 2007

A renowned aerospace engineer, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was elected as the 11^th President of India in 2002. During his term as President, he was popularly known as the People’s President. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1997. He has also been a professor (of aerospace engineering) and is the first Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram (IIST). He is known to be the most loved president of India by the general public.

Pratibha Devi Singh Patil

Term of office (2007 - 2012)

Birth Date: Dec 19, 1934
Birth Place: Nadgaon
Took President Office: Jul 25, 2007
Left President Office: Jul 24, 2012

Pratibha Devi Singh Patil was the 12^th President of India and holds the distinction of being the first woman to hold the office. Governor of Rajasthan before being shifted to Rashtrapati Bhavan, Patil has courted many controversies in her tenure, the latest being about her lavish post-retirement home, plans of which now stand shelved.

Sh. Pranab Mukherjee

Term of office (2012 - 2017)

Birth Date: December 11, 1935
Birth Place: Mirati (Birbhum)
Took President Office: Jul 25, 2012

Pranab Mukherjee was elected as the 13^th President of India on 24 July 2012. Prior to his election as President, Mukherjee was Union Finance Minister from 2009 to 2012. He was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna in 2019.

Ram Nath Kovind

Term of office (2017 - 2022)

Birth Date: December 11, 1935
Birth Place: Mirati (Birbhum)
Took President Office: Jul 25, 2017

Ram Nath Kovind was elected as the 14^th President of India on 24 July 2017. He is the second person after K. R. Narayanan, from the Dalit community. Prior to his presidency, he served as the 26th Governor of Bihar from 2015 to 2017 and as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from 1994 to 2006. Before entering politics, he was a lawyer for 16 years and practiced in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India until 1993.

Droupadi Murmu

Term of office (2017 - 2022)

Birth Date: June 20, 1958
Birth Place: Odisha
Took President Office: Jul 25, 2022

Droupadi Murmu has been elected as the 15^th President of India on 24 July 2022. She is the first person belonging to the indigenous, scheduled tribe community (Santal) to be elected as the President of India. Prior to her presidency she served as the ninth Governor of Jharkhand between 2015 and 2021 and held various portfolios in the cabinet of the Government of Odisha between 2000 to 2004. Before entering politics, she worked as a clerk in the State Irrigation and Power Department from 1979 to 1983, and then as a teacher in Rairangpur until 1997.