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.^[1][2]

• 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 longest-serving vice president and only vice president to serve under two presidents.
• Bottom right: Jagdeep Dhankhar is the most recent 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.^[3] They can be removed by a resolution passed by an effective majority in the Rajya Sabha.^[4] 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.^[1] There have been 14 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.^[5] He later served as the president.^[6] 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.^[7] Out of 14 vice presidents, six of them later went on to become the president.^[7] Krishan Kant has been the only one to die during his tenure.^[8] M. Venkaiah Naidu^[9] is the first vice president to be born after Independent India is formed.

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:

Legend   Vice President was a candidate of the Janata Dal (JD) (1)   Vice President was an Independent (IND) candidate (5)   Vice President was a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (3)   Vice President was a candidate of the Indian National Congress (INC) (5)

Key RES Resigned † Died in office

#	Portrait	Name (Lifespan)	Home state	Term of office Duration in years and days		Mandate	Prior positions held	Party	President (Tenure)
		Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975)	Tamil Nadu	13 May 1952	13 May 1957	1952 (Unopposed)	Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (1939–1948) Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1949–1952)	Independent	Rajendra Prasad (26 January 1950 - 13 May 1962)
				13 May 1957	13 May 1962	1957 (Unopposed)
				10 years, 0 days
	Educationist and former diplomat. Elected as the vice president of India on 13 May 1952 following the creation of the position and also became the first ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Re-elected for a second term in 1957 and continued to serve in office until being elected as the President in 1962.
		Zakir Husain (1897–1969)	Andhra Pradesh	13 May 1962	13 May 1967	1962 (95.3%)	Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (1948–1956) Nominated Member, Rajya Sabha (1952–1957) Governor of Bihar (1957–1962)	Independent	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (13 May 1962 - 13 May 1967)
				5 years, 0 days
	Educationist and former governor of Bihar. Elected as the vice president in the 1962 election defeating N. C. Samantsinhar. First Muslim to be elected as vice president. Received the Bharat Ratna during vice presidency in 1963 and briefly served as acting president in 1965 during the period of President Radhakrishnan's visit to United Kingdom to perform cataract surgery and during that period, imposed President's rule in Kerala. Relinquished office after being elected president in 1967.
		V. V. Giri (1894–1980)	Odisha	13 May 1967	3 May 1969[RES]	1967 (71.45%)	Member, Imperial Legislative Assembly (1935–1937) Minister of Labour and Industry, Madras Presidency (1937–1939) High Commissioner to Ceylon (1947–1951) Union Minister of Labour (1952–1957) Governor of Uttar Pradesh (1957–1960), Kerala (1960–1965) and Karnataka (1965–1967)	Independent	Zakir Husain (13 May 1967 - 3 May 1969)
				1 year, 355 days
	Labour leader, former union minister and former governor. Elected as the vice president in the 1967 election defeating Mohammad Habib. Became acting president following the death of President Zakir Husain on 3 May 1969 and thereupon resigned from the vice presidency. First vice president to not complete full term in office.
Position vacant (3 May 1969 – 31 August 1969) (120 days)
		Gopal Swarup Pathak (1896–1982)	Uttar Pradesh	31 August 1969	31 August 1974	1969 (52.7%)	Judge, Allahabad High Court (1945–1946) Member, Rajya Sabha (1960–1966) Union Minister of Law (1966–1967) Governor of Mysore (1967–1969)	Independent	V. V. Giri (24 August 1969 - 24 August 1974)
				5 years, 0 days
	Former union minister and governor. Elected as the vice president in 1969 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of his predecessor V. V. Giri by defeating six other candidates. Retired upon completion of tenure in 1974. First vice president to not get elected as president.								Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (24 August 1974 - 11 February 1977)
		B. D. Jatti (1912–2002)	Karnataka	31 August 1974	31 August 1979	1974 (78.7%)	Chief Minister of Mysore State (1958–1962) Lieutenant Governor of Pondicherry (1968–1972) Governor of Orissa (1972–1974)	Indian National Congress
				5 years, 0 days					Self (acting) (11 February 1977 - 25 July 1977)
	Former chief minister of Mysore and former governor. Elected as the vice president in 1974 defeating his nearest rival Niral Enem Horo. Became acting president on 11 February 1977 following the demise of president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and served in the acting capacity till the election of Neelam Sanjiva Reddy in July 1977. Retired as vice president upon completion of tenure in 1979.								Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (25 July 1977 - 25 July 1982)
		Mohammad Hidayatullah (1905–1992)	Madhya Pradesh	31 August 1979	31 August 1984	1979 (Unopposed)	Chief Justice, Nagpur High Court (1954–1956) Chief Justice, Madhya Pradesh High Court (1956–1958) Judge, Supreme Court of India (1958–1968) Chief Justice of India (1968–1970) Acting President of India (1969)	Independent
				5 years, 0 days
	Former chief justice of the Supreme Court and former acting president. Elected unopposed as the vice president in 1979 and became the only individual to have served on the top three constitutional positions in the nation, i.e. the President, Vice President and Chief Justice. Briefly acted as acting president in 1982 during the period of medical absence of President Zail Singh. Retired as vice president upon completion of tenure in 1984.								Giani Zail Singh (25 July 1982 - 25 July 1987)
		Ramaswamy Venkataraman (1910–2009)	Tamil Nadu	31 August 1984	24 July 1987[RES]	1984 (71.05%)	Member, Lok Sabha (1952–1957) Minister of Industries, Labour, Co-operation, etc., Madras State (1957–1967) Union Minister of Finance (1980–1982) Union Minister of Home Affairs (1982) Union Minister of Defence (1982–1984)	Indian National Congress
				2 years, 327 days
	Former union minister. Elected as the vice president in 1984 after defeating B. C. Kamble in the vice presidential election. As vice president, he played important role in being deputed for president on making diplomatic visits and acting as a mediator for then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and president Zail Singh. Resigned from the vice presidency on the eve of assuming office as the President on 25 July 1987.
Position vacant (24 July 1987 – 3 September 1987) (41 days)
		Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918–1999)	Madhya Pradesh	3 September 1987	24 July 1992[RES]	1987 (Unopposed)	Chief Minister of Bhopal State (1952–1956) National President, Indian National Congress (1972–1974) Union Minister of Communications (1974–1977) Governor of Andhra Pradesh (1984–1985), Punjab (1985), and Maharashtra (1985–1987)	Indian National Congress	Ramaswamy Venkataraman (25 July 1987 - 25 July 1992)
				4 years, 325 days
	Former union minister. Elected unopposed as the vice president in 1987 to fill the vacancy caused by the election of then vice president Ramasamy Venkataraman as the President. Offered to resign in 1988 after his decision, as ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha, to admit a discussion in the house of the purported extravagance of the then governor of Andhra Pradesh was vociferously objected to by members of the government and several ministers of the council of ministers led the protests against his ruling. In 1991, he was offered the presidency of Congress Party and later the premiership after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, both offers were declined by him. He resigned as the vice president in 1992 after being elected as the President.
Position vacant (24 July 1992 – 21 August 1992) (28 days)
		K. R. Narayanan (1920–2005)	Kerala	21 August 1992	24 July 1997[RES]	1992 (99.86%)	Ambassador of Thailand (1967–1969) and Turkey (1973–1975) Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs (1975–1976) Ambassador to China (1976–1978) and the United States (1980–1984) Member, Lok Sabha (1984–1992) Union Minister of State, Planning (1985), External Affairs (1985–1986), Science and Technology (1986–1989)	Indian National Congress	Shankar Dayal Sharma (25 July 1992 - 25 July 1997)
				4 years, 337 days
	Former diplomat and former union minister. Elected as the vice president in 1992 defeating his rival candidate Kaka Joginder Singh. First Dalit vice president of India. Resigned from the vice presidency in 1997 after being elected as the President.
Position vacant (24 July 1997 – 21 August 1997) (28 days)
		Krishan Kant (1927–2002)	Punjab	21 August 1997	27 July 2002[†]	1997 (61.76%)	Member, Rajya Sabha (1966–1977) Member, Lok Sabha (1977–1980) Governor of Andhra Pradesh (1990–1997) and Tamil Nadu (1996–1997)	Janata Dal	K. R. Narayanan (25 July 1997 - 25 July 2002)
				4 years, 340 days
	Former parliamentarian and former governor. Elected as the vice president in 1997 defeating his rival candidate Surjit Singh Barnala of the Shiromani Akali Dal. While serving as vice-president during the 2001 Parliament attack, terrorists used fake labels to gain access to the premises and they crashed into his car. Died in office on 27 July 2002, becoming the first and only vice president to die in office.
Position vacant (27 July 2002 – 19 August 2002) (23 days)
		Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (1925–2010)	Rajasthan	19 August 2002	21 July 2007[RES]	2002 (59.82%)	Member, Rajasthan Legislative Assembly (1952–1972, 1977–1998) Member, Rajya Sabha (1973–1977) Chief Minister of Rajasthan (1977–1980, 1990–1992, 1993–1998) Leader of Opposition, Rajasthan Legislative Assembly (1980–1985, 1998–2002)	Bharatiya Janata Party	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (25 July 2002 - 25 July 2007)
				4 years, 336 days
	Former chief minister of Rajasthan. Elected as the vice president in 2002 defeating his rival candidate Sushilkumar Shinde of the Indian National Congress. First-ever from BJP to be elected as vice president. Nominated as the opposition candidate against Pratibha Patil in the 2007 presidential election in which he was defeated becoming first ever vice president to be defeated in presidential election. Resigned from the vice presidency on 21 July 2007 after being defeated in the presidential election.
Position vacant (21 July 2007 – 11 August 2007) (21 days)
		Mohammad Hamid Ansari (born 1937)	West Bengal	11 August 2007	11 August 2012	2007 (60.50%)	Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (1976–1980) High Commissioner to Australia (1985–1989) Ambassador to Afghanistan (1989–1990), Iran (1990–1992), Saudi Arabia (1995–1999) Permanent Representative to the United Nations (1993–1995) Vice-Chancellor, Aligarh Muslim University (2000–2002) Chairman, National Commission for Minorities (2006–2007)	Indian National Congress	Pratibha Patil (25 July 2007 - 25 July 2012)
									Pranab Mukherjee (25 July 2012 - 25 July 2017)
				11 August 2012	11 August 2017	2012 (67.31%)
									Ram Nath Kovind (25 July 2017 - 25 July 2022)
				10 years, 0 days
	Former diplomat. Elected as the vice president in 2007 defeating his rival candidates Najma Heptulla of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rasheed Masood of the Samajwadi Party. Re-elected to office for a second term in 2012 by defeating his rival candidate Jaswant Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party. First and only vice president since Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan to be re-elected to office and the longest-serving vice president. Retired from office upon completion of tenure on 11 August 2017, becoming the first vice president to serve under three presidents.
		Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (born 1949)	Andhra Pradesh	11 August 2017	11 August 2022	2017 (67.89%)	Member, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly (1978–1985) State President, Andhra Pradesh BJP (1988–93) Member, Rajya Sabha (1998–2016, 2016–2017) Union Minister of Rural Development(2000–2002), Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (2014–2017), Parliamentary Affairs (2014–2016), and Information and Broadcasting (2016–2017) National President, Bharatiya Janata Party (2002–2004)	Bharatiya Janata Party
				5 years, 0 days
	Former union minister and parliamentarian. Elected as the vice president in 2017 defeating his rival candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi of the Indian National Congress. First vice president to be born after independence. Made several state visits during tenure as vice president and received the Commander of the Order of the Green Crescent [fr] of the Comoros during his visit to the Comoros in 2019. Tenure also marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Retired from office upon completion of tenure in 2022.								Droupadi Murmu (25 July 2022 - present)
		Jagdeep Dhankhar (born 1951)	Rajasthan	11 August 2022	21 July 2025[RES]	2022 (74.37%)	Member, Lok Sabha (1989–1991) Union Minister of State, Parliamentary Affairs (1990–1991) Member, Rajasthan Legislative Assembly (1993–1998) Governor of West Bengal (2019–2022)	Bharatiya Janata Party
				2 years, 344 days
	Former union minister, parliamentarian and governor. Elected as the vice president in 2022 defeating his rival candidate Margaret Alva of the Indian National Congress. First vice president to be born after India's becoming a republic in 1950. Resigned on 21st July 2025 citing health reasons.
Position vacant (21 July 2025– Today) (18 days)

Statistics

Representation of vice presidents by party of candidacy

1. Independent (35.7%)
2. Indian National Congress (35.7%)
3. Janata Dal (7.14%)
4. Bharatiya Janata Party (21.4%)

Timeline

See also

• President of India
• Vice President of India
• Prime Minister of India
• Deputy Prime Minister of India
• List of presidents of India
• List of prime ministers of India

Notes