Prime Minister of India
» The Prime Minister of India (भारत के प्रधानमन्त्री) is the head of government and leader of the executive branch 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.
» Prime Minister is also the chief adviser to the President of India and head of the Council of Ministers.
» Prime Minister can be a member of any of the two houses of Parliament (the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha), but has to be the leader of the political party, having a majority in the Lok Sabha
» The federal or union cabinet headed by the Prime Minister is appointed by the President of India to assist the latter in the administration of the affairs of the executive.
» Union cabinet is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha as per Article 75(3).
» The Constitution envisions a scheme of affairs in which the President of India is the head of the executive in terms of Article 53 with office of the prime minister as chief of Council of Ministers to assist and advise the president in the discharge of his/her constitutional functions.
The executive powers of the Union shall be vested in the president and shall be exercised either directly or through subordinate officers, in accordance with the Constitution.
— Article 53(1), Constitution of India
There shall be a Council of Ministers with the prime minister at the head to aid and advise the president who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice.
— Article 74(1), Constitution of India
The Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister.
— Article 75(1), Constitution of India
» 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.
» Nehru 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, Indira Gandhi was voted out of power in favour of the Janata Party, whose leader Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister.
» Following is the complete list of prime ministers of India appointed so far
List of Prime Ministers of India (From 1947 to 2017)
№
|
Name
(birth–death) |
Portrait
|
Prior Office
|
Party
(Alliance) |
Elected constituency
|
Term of office
|
Appointed by
|
|||
1
|
Jawaharlal Nehru
(1889–1964) |
|
Indian freedom fighter
|
Indian National Congress
|
Phulpur, Uttar Pradesh
|
15 August
1947 |
27 May
1964[†] |
16 years, 286 days
|
Lord Mountbatten
|
|
Rajendra Prasad
|
||||||||||
–
|
Gulzarilal Nanda (acting)
(1898–1998) |
|
Union Minister of Labour and Employment
|
Indian National Congress
|
Sabarkantha, Gujarat
|
27 May
1964 |
9 June
1964 |
13 days
|
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
|
|
2
|
Lal Bahadur Shastri
(1904–1966) |
|
Minister of Home Affairs
|
Indian National Congress
|
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
|
9 June
1964 |
11 January
1966[†] |
1 year, 216 days
|
||
–
|
Gulzarilal Nanda (acting)
(1898–1998) |
|
Minister of Home Affairs
|
Indian National Congress
|
Sabarkantha, Gujarat
|
11 January
1966 |
24 January
1966 |
13 days
|
||
3
|
Indira Gandhi
(1917–1984) |
|
Minister of Information and Broadcasting
|
Indian National Congress
|
Rajya SabhaMP for Uttar Pradesh
|
24 January
1966 |
24 March
1977 |
11 years, 59 days
|
||
Prime Minister
(Re-elected)
|
Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh
|
|||||||||
Prime Minister
(Re-elected)
|
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] |
2 years, 126 days
|
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
|
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
|
|
(3)
|
Indira Gandhi
(1917–1984) |
|
Former Prime Minister
|
Indian National Congress (I)
|
Medak, Telangana
|
14 January
1980[§] |
31 October
1984[†] |
4 years, 291 days
|
||
6
|
Rajiv Gandhi
(1944–1991) |
|
MP for Amethi
|
Indian National Congress (I)
|
Amethi, Uttar Pradesh
|
31 October
1984 |
2 December
1989 |
5 years, 32 days
|
Zail Singh
|
|
Former Prime Minister
(Re-elected)
|
||||||||||
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
|
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
|
||
9
|
P. V. Narasimha Rao
(1921–2004) |
|
Minister of External Affairs
|
Indian National Congress (I)
|
Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh
|
21 June
1991 |
16 May
1996 |
4 years, 330 days
|
||
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
|
Shankar Dayal Sharma
|
|
11
|
H. D. Deve Gowda
(born 1933) |
|
Chief Minister of Karnataka
|
Janata Dal
(United Front) |
Rajya SabhaMP for Karnataka
|
1 June
1996 |
21 April
1997[RES] |
324 days
|
||
12
|
Inder Kumar Gujral
(1919–2012) |
|
Minister of External Affairs
|
Janata Dal
(United Front) |
Rajya SabhaMP for Bihar
|
21 April
1997 |
19 March
1998 |
332 days
|
||
(10)
|
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
(born 1924) |
|
Former Prime Minister
(Re-elected)
|
Bharatiya Janata Party
(NDA) |
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
|
19 March
1998[§] |
22 May
2004 |
6 years, 64 days
|
K. R. Narayanan
|
|
Former Prime Minister
(Re-elected)
|
||||||||||
13
|
Manmohan Singh
(born 1932) |
|
Minister of Finance
|
Indian National Congress
(UPA) |
Rajya SabhaMP for Assam
|
22 May
2004 |
26 May
2014 |
10 years, 4 days
|
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
|
|
Former Prime Minister
(Re-elected)
|
Pratibha Patil
|
|||||||||
14
|
Narendra Modi
(born 1950) |
|
Chief Minister of Gujarat
|
Bharatiya Janata Party
(NDA) |
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
|
26 May
2014 |
Incumbent
|
Incumbent
|
Pranab Mukherjee
|
|
- Key
- №: Incumbent number
- † Assassinated or died in office
- § Returned to office after a previous term
- RES Resigned
- NC Resigned following a no-confidence motion
