List of Presidents and Vice-Presidents of India 1950-2026

Droupadi Murmu is the 15th and current President of India (since 25 July 2022), and C. P. Radhakrishnan is the 15th and current Vice-President (since 12 September 2025). This page lists every President and Vice-President since 1950 with their terms, explains how each is elected, and collects the facts that UPSC Prelims and State PSC papers ask most often.

Quick Answer

President: Droupadi Murmu (15th), in office since 25 July 2022; the first tribal President and the second woman President. Her term ends in July 2027. Vice-President: C. P. Radhakrishnan (15th), sworn in on 12 September 2025 after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned on 21 July 2025. The first President was Rajendra Prasad, the only one to serve two full terms. The first Vice-President was S. Radhakrishnan.

List of Presidents of India (1950–2026)

No.	President	Term	Note
1	Rajendra Prasad	26 Jan 1950 – 13 May 1962	Only President with two full terms
2	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	13 May 1962 – 13 May 1967	Teachers’ Day (5 Sept) marks his birthday
3	Zakir Husain	13 May 1967 – 3 May 1969	First President to die in office
–	V. V. Giri (acting)	3 May 1969 – 20 Jul 1969	Resigned to contest the election
–	M. Hidayatullah (acting)	20 Jul 1969 – 24 Aug 1969	Only CJI to act as President
4	V. V. Giri	24 Aug 1969 – 24 Aug 1974	Won on second-preference votes
5	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed	24 Aug 1974 – 11 Feb 1977	Signed the 1975 Emergency proclamation; died in office
–	B. D. Jatti (acting)	11 Feb 1977 – 25 Jul 1977
6	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy	25 Jul 1977 – 25 Jul 1982	Only President elected unopposed
7	Giani Zail Singh	25 Jul 1982 – 25 Jul 1987	Used the pocket veto (Indian Post Office Bill, 1986)
8	R. Venkataraman	25 Jul 1987 – 25 Jul 1992
9	Shankar Dayal Sharma	25 Jul 1992 – 25 Jul 1997
10	K. R. Narayanan	25 Jul 1997 – 25 Jul 2002	First Dalit President
11	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam	25 Jul 2002 – 25 Jul 2007	"People’s President"; scientist
12	Pratibha Patil	25 Jul 2007 – 25 Jul 2012	First woman President
13	Pranab Mukherjee	25 Jul 2012 – 25 Jul 2017
14	Ram Nath Kovind	25 Jul 2017 – 25 Jul 2022
15	Droupadi Murmu	25 Jul 2022 – present	First tribal President; youngest at oath (64)

List of Vice-Presidents of India (1952–2026)

No.	Vice-President	Term
1	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	1952 – 1962 (two terms)
2	Zakir Husain	1962 – 1967
3	V. V. Giri	1967 – 1969
4	Gopal Swarup Pathak	1969 – 1974
5	B. D. Jatti	1974 – 1979
6	Mohammad Hidayatullah	1979 – 1984
7	R. Venkataraman	1984 – 1987
8	Shankar Dayal Sharma	1987 – 1992
9	K. R. Narayanan	1992 – 1997
10	Krishan Kant	1997 – 2002 (died in office)
11	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat	2002 – 2007
12	Mohammad Hamid Ansari	2007 – 2017 (two terms)
13	M. Venkaiah Naidu	2017 – 2022
14	Jagdeep Dhankhar	11 Aug 2022 – 21 Jul 2025 (resigned)
15	C. P. Radhakrishnan	12 Sep 2025 – present

Six Vice-Presidents later became President: S. Radhakrishnan, Zakir Husain, V. V. Giri, R. Venkataraman, Shankar Dayal Sharma and K. R. Narayanan.

How the President Is Elected

Electoral college (Article 54)

Elected members of both Houses of Parliament.
Elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the states.
Elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of Delhi and Puducherry (added by the 70th Amendment, 1992) and of Jammu and Kashmir.

Nominated members of Parliament and of Assemblies, and members of Legislative Councils, do not vote.

Method (Article 55)

The election uses proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote, by secret ballot. Each MLA’s vote is weighted by the state’s population (on the 1971 Census, frozen until after 2026) divided by the number of elected MLAs, divided by 1,000. The total value of all MPs’ votes equals the total value of all MLAs’ votes, which keeps the Union and the states in balance.

Key provisions

Article	Provision
Article 52	There shall be a President of India.
Article 56	Term of five years; can resign to the Vice-President.
Article 57	Eligible for re-election (no limit in the Constitution).
Article 58	Qualifications: citizen, 35 years, qualified for Lok Sabha membership, no office of profit.
Article 61	Impeachment for violation of the Constitution, by a two-thirds majority of the total membership of each House. No President has been impeached.
Article 72	Power to grant pardons and to suspend, remit or commute sentences.
Article 123	Power to promulgate ordinances when Parliament is not in session.

How the Vice-President Is Elected

Under Article 66, the Vice-President is elected by an electoral college of all members of both Houses of Parliament, including nominated members, by proportional representation through single transferable vote. State legislators have no role. The Vice-President must be at least 35, qualified for Rajya Sabha membership, and holds office for five years (Article 67). He or she is ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Article 64) and acts as President when that office falls vacant (Article 65), for at most six months.

The most recent election was a mid-term one: Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned on 21 July 2025, and C. P. Radhakrishnan, then Governor of Maharashtra, won the election on 9 September 2025.

Records and Facts for Prelims

First President: Rajendra Prasad, also the only one re-elected.
First woman President: Pratibha Patil (2007). First tribal President: Droupadi Murmu (2022).
Only President elected unopposed: Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (1977).
Presidents who died in office: Zakir Husain (1969) and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1977).
Only CJI to act as President: M. Hidayatullah (1969); he later became Vice-President.
Vice-President with two terms: S. Radhakrishnan and Hamid Ansari.
Vice-President who died in office: Krishan Kant (2002).
Pocket veto used: Giani Zail Singh, on the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, 1986.
Next Presidential election: due by July 2027.

For how the President fits into the Union executive with the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, see our list of Prime Ministers of India and our Constitution of India notes.

Droupadi Murmu, the 15th President, in office since 25 July 2022. Her five-year term ends in July 2027.

C. P. Radhakrishnan, the 15th Vice-President, sworn in on 12 September 2025.

An electoral college of the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the states, Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir (Article 54).

All members of both Houses of Parliament, elected and nominated (Article 66). State legislators do not vote.

Only Rajendra Prasad, from 1950 to 1962.

No. Impeachment under Article 61 requires a two-thirds majority of the total membership of each House, and no President has ever faced impeachment proceedings.