List of vice presidents of India

The vice president of India is the second highest constitutional office in the government of India after the president. In accordance with Article 63 of the Constitution of India, the vice president discharges the functions of the president when a contingency arises due to the resignation, removal, death, impeachment or the inability of the president to discharge their functions. They are also the ex officio chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India.

  • Top left: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the first and longest-serving vice president of India.
  • Top right: V. V. Giri was the first vice president to serve as acting president upon demise of the president.
  • Bottom left: Mohammad Hamid Ansari was the Second longest-serving vice president and only vice president to serve under three presidents.
  • Bottom right: C. P. Radhakrishnan is the current vice president.

The vice president is elected by an electoral college consisting of all members of both houses of the Parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote via a secret ballot conducted by the Election Commission of India. Once elected the vice president continues in office for a five-year term, but can continue in office irrespective of the expiry of the term, until a successor assumes office. They can be removed by a resolution passed by an effective majority in the Rajya Sabha. They are responsible for the protection of the rights and privileges of the members of the Council of States. They also decide whether a bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha is a financial bill. There have been 15 vice presidents since the inception of the post in 1950. The first vice president of India, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, took oath at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 13 May 1952. He later served as the president. Following the death of Zakir Husain in 1969, Varahagiri Venkata Giri resigned from the post of vice president to contest the presidential election and got elected. Out of 15 vice presidents, six of them later went on to become the president. Krishan Kant has been the only one to die during his tenure. Venkaiah Naidu is the first vice president to be born after Indian Independence.

List

This list is numbered based on vice presidents elected after winning an Indian vice presidential election. The vice president of India does not represent any political party. The colors used in the table indicate the following:



Portrait Name Term of office Election President Party
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 13 May 1952 13 May 1957 10 years 1952
(Unopposed)
Rajendra Prasad Independent
13 May 1957 13 May 1962 1957
(Unopposed)
Zakir Husain 13 May 1962 13 May 1967 5 years 1962
(95.3%)
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
V. V. Giri 13 May 1967 3 May 1969[RES] 1 year, 355 days 1967
(71.45%)
Zakir Husain
Gopal Swarup Pathak 31 August 1969 31 August 1974 5 years 1969
(52.7%)
Varahagiri Venkata Giri
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
B. D. Jatti 31 August 1974 31 August 1979 5 years 1974
(78.7%)
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Indian National Congress
Mohammad Hidayatullah 31 August 1979 31 August 1984 5 years 1979
(Unopposed)
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Zail Singh
Independent
Ramaswamy Venkataraman 31 August 1984 24 July 1987[RES] 2 years, 327 days 1984
(71.05%)
Zail Singh Indian National Congress
Shankar Dayal Sharma 3 September 1987 24 July 1992[RES] 4 years, 325 days 1987
(Unopposed)
Ramaswamy Venkataraman
K. R. Narayanan 21 August 1992 24 July 1997[RES] 4 years, 337 days 1992
(99.86%)
Shankar Dayal Sharma
Krishan Kant 21 August 1997 27 July 2002[†] 4 years, 340 days 1997
(61.76%)
K. R. Narayanan
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Janata Dal
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat 19 August 2002 21 July 2007[RES] 4 years, 336 days 2002
(59.82%)
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Bharatiya Janata Party
Mohammad Hamid Ansari 11 August 2007 11 August 2012 10 years 2007
(60.5%)
Pratibha Patil
Pranab Mukherjee
Indian National Congress
11 August 2012 11 August 2017 2012
(67.31%)
Pranab Mukherjee
Ram Nath Kovind
Venkaiah Naidu 11 August 2017 11 August 2022 5 years 2017
(67.89%)
Ram Nath Kovind
Droupadi Murmu
Bharatiya Janata Party
Jagdeep Dhankhar 11 August 2022 21 July 2025[RES] 2 years, 344 days 2022
(74.37%)
Droupadi Murmu
C. P. Radhakrishnan 12 September 2025 Incumbent 98 days 2025
(60.1%)

Statistics

  1. Independent (33.3%)
  2. Indian National Congress (33.3%)
  3. Bharatiya Janata Party (26.7%)
  4. Janata Dal (6.67%)
Timeline

See also

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