VerifiedThe President of India is the nominal head of the country and its legislature and judiciary system. The House of Parliament members elects the President. The President can resign from his five-year tenure at any point of time or can be removed by impeachment. The list of presidents of India since independence till date is as follows.
List of the Presidents of India
1. Dr Rajendra Prasad
The first President of India, Dr Prasad worked for two consecutive terms from 1950 to 1962. Indian Independence Movement was led by him and he headed the Constituent Assembly. In 1962 he was awarded the Bharat Ratna.
2. Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
The man whose birthday is observed and celebrated as the Teachers’ Day was the second President of India. His tenure was from 1962 to 1967. In 1954 Bharat Ratna was awarded to him.
3. Dr Zakir Hussain
The first Muslim President of India Dr Husain served a tenure of 2 years up to 1969 and died at the post. After his death, Mohammad Hidayatullah was made acting president. Earlier Dr Husain was the Governor of Bihar.
4. V. V. Giri
He remained the President from 1969 to 1974. He was the only independent candidate to be the President of India. He was also awarded Bharat Ratna in 1975.
5. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
After Hussain, he became the second President to die while still in post. He acted as the president for a tenure of 3 years, from 1974 to 1977.
6. Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy
He was the first President to be elected unopposed. From the post of Lok Sabha Speaker, he became the president and remained so until 1982.
7. Giani Zail Singh
The Chief Minister of Punjab became India’s President in 1982. His tenure of 5 years brought red-letter days like Indira Gandhi’s assassination, Operation Blue Star, anti-Sikh riot etc.
8. R. Venkatraman
Earlier a freedom struggle, he became the President in 1987. He received Tamra Patra from India and Soviet Land Prize from Russia for his works.
9. Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma
From Vice President, he went on to become the President of India in 1992. His tenure lasted till 1997. He received the Living Legend of Law Award of Recognition by the International Bar Association.
10. K. R. Narayanan
The first Malayali President was also India’s first Dalit President to vote in the Lok Sabha elections. He addressed the State Assembly too.
11. Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
The Missile Man of India served the tenure from 2002 to 2007. During his tenure missiles Agni and Prithvi and satellite Rohini-1 were launched, Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted. He was a Bharat Ratna awardee too.
12. Smt. Pratibha Patil
The earlier governor of Rajasthan became the first woman President of India in 2007. She was also the first to fly Sukhoi. She was the President till 2012.
13. Pranab Mukherjee
The receiver of the Best Parliamentary Award and the Padma Vibhushan was earlier the Finance Minister of the central Government. He was the first Bengali person to become the President.
14. Ram Nath Kovind
He became the President in 2017 and is the current President too. He earned acclamation as a Governor of Bihar and investigated university corruptions.
In India, the power of the President is supreme. No law can be imposed without the President’s signature. The elected members of the legislative assemblies of the states and the Union Territories vote in the selection of the President of India.
