List of Presidents of India: Between 1950 & 2020

By Mohit Chauhan|Updated : July 20th, 2020

President of India list includes the names of 14 presidents who took an oath for serving the country between 1950 and 2020. The president or Rashtrapati the first citizen of India, is responsible for appointing the prime minister, the attorney-general and other ministers of India. Another important role of an Indian president is to safeguard and ensure the constitution of India. 

The president holds the most powerful position in the Indian government and is appointed by the chief justice of India. The electoral college comprising the members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and Vidhan Sabha work in unison to elect the president. According to article 56-V of the Indian constitution, the president has to serve the office period of five years. 

Aspirants preparing for government, banking or other competitive exams must check the president of India list to secure marks for such easy questions. As per the trend of previous year papers of competitive exams, this topic had been repeatedly asked in the general awareness section and polity section of UPSC

List of Presidents of India From 1950 - 2020

Below you can go through the list of all presidents of India between 1950 and 2020 along with their terms of office. 

Presidents of India

Term of Office

Remarks

Dr Rajendra Prasad

Jan 26, 1950 - May 13, 1962

Born in 1884, he became the 1st president of India

Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

May 13, 1962 – May 13, 1967

An Indian philosopher who also served as the first vice-president of India

Dr Zakir Hussain

May 13, 1967 – May 03, 1969

An Indian economist who previously served as governor of Bihar and vice-president of India

Varahagiri Venkatagiri 

May 03, 1969 – July 20, 1969

Following the demise of Dr Hussain, V.V. Giri got appointed as the interim president

Justice Mohammad Hidayatullah

July 20, 1969 – August 24, 1969

Previously appointed as the 11th chief justice of India, he served as the interim president

Varahagiri Venkatagiri

August 24, 1969 – August 24, 1974

Having served as the acting president, he was appointed to serve the full- term as the 4th president of India

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed

August 24, 1974 – February 11, 1977

He was the 5th president of India. He met his demise before completing the full-term office

B.D. Jatti 

February 11, 1977 – July 25, 1977

The 5th vice-president of India took charge as the acting president following the demise of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy

July 25, 1977 – July 25, 1982

During his long political career, he served as the first CM of Andhra Pradesh, speaker of the Lok Sabha and a union minister

Giani Zail Singh

July 25, 1982 – July 25, 1987

Began his career in politics as a member of Indian National Congress, he served the Indian government as the 7th president.

R. Venkataraman

July 25, 1987 – July 25, 1992

Formerly an Indian lawyer, he served as a union minister before serving as the president

Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma

July 25, 1992 – July 25, 1997

Prior to his presidency, he served as the CM of Bhopal and cabinet minister

K.R. Narayanan

July 25, 1997 – July 25, 2002

He entered the political sphere at Indira Gandhi’s request and won three successive general elections

Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam 

July 25, 2002 – July 25, 2007

An aerospace scientist, who spent four decades in DRDO and ISRO. He is popularly known as ‘Missile Man of India’ 

Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil 

July 25, 2007 – July 25, 2012

A member of the INS and the first woman to serve the government as the president of India

Shri Pranab Mukherjee 

July 25, 2012 – July 25, 2017

Prior to his presidency, he was appointed as the union finance minister and the leader of the Rajya Sabha

Shri Ram Nath Kovind

July 25, 2017 – Present

Before winning the presidential election, he served as the governor of Bihar and a member of Rajya Sabha

The first president of India Dr Rajendra Prasad came to power in 1950 and remained in-charge of office for 12 years. He is the only president to serve two full terms. Before a year of his demise in 1963, he was awarded Bharat Ratna because of his contribution to the development of education in India and for shaping the Indian constitution. 

The immediate successor of Dr Rajendra Prasad in the list of all presidents of India is Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in 1962, followed by Dr Zakir Hussain in 1967. The first woman president of India was Pratibha Patil, who got elected in 2007 as the12th president. Her successor Shri Pranab Mukherjee took charge as the president between 2012 and 2017. Shri Ram Nath Kovind became the 14th president of India and was appointed by chief justice Jagdish Singh Khehar.

Comments

write a comment

FAQs

  • Ram Nath Kovind is the current president of India. He is the 14th president of India and has been serving the office term since July 25, 2017.

  • Rajendra Prasad was the first president of India, who served more than 2 office terms for 12 years between 1950 and 1962.

  • Pratibha Devisingh Patil was the first woman president of India, who served the office for complete 5 years between 2007 and 2012. She became the 12th president of India to hold the office.

  • KR Narayanan became the 10th president of India in 1997 and served the office for 5 years. Prior to that, he also held the position of vice-president between 1992 ans 1997.

  • Ramaswamy Venkataraman was chosen as the 8th president of India, who earlier held the position of the union minister of the country.

  • As per the Indian constitution, the president holds the same position as that of the King in English constitution. The president of India represents the nation whereas the prime minister rules the country. Apart from it, the president also exercise legislative, executive, judicial, diplomatic, military, financial, appointment, pardoning, and emergency powers.

Follow us for latest updates