List of Prime Ministers of India
The Prime Minister of India is the chief executive of the Government of India. In India's parliamentary system, the Constitution names the President as head of state de jure, but his or her de facto executive powers are vested in the Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers. Appointed and sworn-in by the President, the Prime Minister is usually the leader of the party or alliance that has a majority in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's Parliament.
Since 1947, India has had fourteen Prime Ministers, fifteen including Gulzarilal Nanda who twice acted in the role. The first was Jawaharlal Nehru of the Indian National Congress party, who was sworn-in on 15 August 1947, when India gained independence from the British. Serving until his death in May 1964, Nehru remains India's longest-serving prime minister. He was succeeded by fellow Congressman Lal Bahadur Shastri, whose 19-month term also ended in death. Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter, succeeded Shastri in 1966 to become the country's first woman premier. Eleven years later, she was voted out of power in favour of the Janata Party, whose leader Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister. After he resigned in 1979, his former deputy Charan Singh briefly held office until Indira Gandhi was voted back six months later. Indira Gandhi's second stint as Prime Minister ended five years later on the morning of 31 October 1984, when she was gunned down by her own bodyguards. That evening, her son Rajiv Gandhi was sworn-in as India's youngest premier, and the third from his family. Thus far, members of Nehru–Gandhi dynasty have been Prime Minister for a total of 37 years and 303 days.[1]
Rajiv's five-year term ended with his former cabinet colleague, V. P. Singh of the Janata Dal, forming the year-long National Front coalition government in 1989. A six-month interlude under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar followed, after which the Congress party returned to power, forming the government under P. V. Narasimha Rao in June 1991. Rao's five-year term was succeeded by four short-lived governments—the Bharatiya Janata Party's Atal Bihari Vajpayee for 13 days in 1996, a year each under United Front prime ministers H. D. Deve Gowda and I. K. Gujral, and Vajpayee again for 19 months in 1998–99. After Vajpayee was sworn-in for the third time, in 1999, he managed to lead his National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to a full five-year term, the first non-Congressman to do so. Vajpayee was succeeded by Congressman Manmohan Singh, the first Sikh premier, whose United Progressive Alliance government was in office for 10 years between 2004 and 2014.
The incumbent Prime Minister of India is Narendra Modi who has headed the BJP-led NDA government since 26 May 2014 which is India's first non-Congress single party majority government.[2]
Prime Ministers of India (by state of birth)
Key
- Colour key for party of the prime ministers
|
- Other key
- №: Incumbent number
- † Assassinated or died in office
- § Returned to office after a previous term
- RES Resigned
- NC Resigned following a no-confidence motion
|
Prime Ministers of India
№ |
Name (birth–death); constituency |
Portrait |
Prior Office |
Party (Alliance) |
Elected constituency |
Term of office[4] |
Elections (Lok Sabha) |
Ministry |
Appointed by |
1 |
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) |
|
Indian freedom fighter |
|
Indian National Congress |
Phulpur, Uttar Pradesh |
15 August 1947 |
27 May 1964[†] |
7003613000000000000♠16 years, 286 days |
— |
Nehru I |
Lord Mountbatten |
1952 (1st) |
Nehru II |
Rajendra Prasad |
1957 (2nd) |
Nehru III |
1962 (3rd) |
Nehru IV |
– |
Gulzarilal Nanda (acting) (1898–1998) |
|
Union Minister of Labour and Employment |
|
Indian National Congress |
Sabarkantha, Gujarat |
27 May 1964 |
9 June 1964 |
13 days |
(3rd) |
(acting) |
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan |
2 |
Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904–1966) |
|
Minister of Home Affairs |
|
Indian National Congress |
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh |
9 June 1964 |
11 January 1966[†] |
7002581000000000000♠1 year, 216 days |
(3rd) |
Shastri |
– |
Gulzarilal Nanda (acting) (1898–1998) |
|
Minister of Home Affairs |
|
Indian National Congress |
Sabarkantha, Gujarat |
11 January 1966 |
24 January 1966 |
13 days |
(3rd) |
(acting) |
3 |
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) |
|
Minister of Information and Broadcasting |
|
Indian National Congress |
Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh |
24 January 1966 |
24 March 1977 |
7003407700000000000♠11 years, 59 days |
(3rd) |
I. Gandhi I |
Prime Minister
(Re-elected) |
Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh |
1967 (4th) |
Prime Minister
(Re-elected) |
1971 (5th) |
I. Gandhi II |
V. V. Giri |
4 |
Morarji Desai (1896–1995) |
|
Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister of India before he resigned in 1969 |
|
Janata Party |
Surat, Gujarat |
24 March 1977 |
28 July 1979[RES] |
7002856000000000000♠2 years, 126 days |
1977 (6th) |
Desai |
B. D. Jatti
(acting President) |
5 |
Charan Singh (1902–1987) |
|
Minister of Finance |
|
Janata Party (Secular) with INC |
Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh |
28 July 1979 |
14 January 1980[RES] |
170 days |
– (6th) |
C. Singh |
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy |
(3) |
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) |
|
Former Prime Minister |
|
Indian National Congress (I) |
Medak, Andhra Pradesh |
14 January 1980[§] |
31 October 1984[†] |
7003175200000000000♠4 years, 291 days |
1980 (7th) |
I. Gandhi III |
6 |
Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991) |
|
MP for Amethi |
|
Indian National Congress (I) |
Amethi, Uttar Pradesh |
31 October 1984 |
2 December 1989 |
7003185800000000000♠5 years, 32 days |
(7th) |
R. Gandhi |
Zail Singh |
Former Prime Minister
(Re-elected) |
1984 (8th) |
7 |
V. P. Singh (1931–2008) |
|
Minister of Defence |
|
Janata Dal (National Front) |
Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh |
2 December 1989 |
10 November 1990[NC] |
343 days |
1989 (9th) |
V. P. Singh |
R. Venkataraman |
8 |
Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007) |
|
MP for Ballia |
|
Samajwadi Janata Party with INC |
Ballia, Uttar Pradesh |
10 November 1990 |
21 June 1991 |
223 days |
(9th) |
Chandra Shekhar |
9 |
P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) |
|
Minister of External Affairs |
|
Indian National Congress (I) |
Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh |
21 June 1991 |
16 May 1996 |
7003179100000000000♠4 years, 330 days |
1991 (10th) |
Rao |
10 |
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (born 1924) |
|
Minister of External Affairs |
|
Bharatiya Janata Party |
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh |
16 May 1996 |
1 June 1996[RES] |
16 days |
1996 (11th) |
Vajpayee I |
Shankar Dayal Sharma |
11 |
H. D. Deve Gowda (born 1933) |
|
Chief Minister of Karnataka |
|
Janata Dal (United Front) |
Rajya Sabha MP for Karnataka |
1 June 1996 |
21 April 1997[RES] |
324 days |
(11th) |
Deve Gowda |
12 |
Inder Kumar Gujral (1919–2012) |
|
Minister of External Affairs |
|
Janata Dal (United Front) |
Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar |
21 April 1997 |
19 March 1998 |
332 days |
(11th) |
Gujral |
(10) |
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (born 1924) |
|
Former Prime Minister |
|
Bharatiya Janata Party (NDA) |
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh |
19 March 1998[§] |
22 May 2004 |
7003225600000000000♠6 years, 64 days |
1998 (12th) |
Vajpayee II |
K. R. Narayanan |
Former Prime Minister
(Re-elected) |
1999 (13th) |
Vajpayee III |
13 |
Manmohan Singh (born 1932) |
|
Minister of Finance |
|
Indian National Congress (UPA) |
Rajya Sabha MP for Assam |
22 May 2004 |
26 May 2014 |
7003365600000000000♠10 years, 4 days |
2004 (14th) |
M. Singh I |
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |
Former Prime Minister
(Re-elected) |
2009 (15th) |
M. Singh II |
Pratibha Patil |
14 |
Narendra Modi (born 1950) |
|
Chief Minister of Gujarat |
|
Bharatiya Janata Party (NDA) |
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh |
26 May 2014[5] |
Incumbent |
7003117900000000000♠3 years, 83 days |
2014 (16th) |
Modi |
Pranab Mukherjee |
See also
References
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Lists of Prime Ministers by country
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