List of Vice Presidents of India and Their Term of Office

The Vice president is the second-highest government body in India after the President. Article 63 of the Indian Constitution makes it mandatory for the country to have a vice president. He becomes the acting president in the absence of the president due to any valid reason.

Both the houses of parliament vote for this candidate standing for this position. The tenure is of five years. He is also ex officio Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. The bill recognition in Rajya Sabha is done by the vice president.

India has seen thirteen vice presidents till now. Here’s the list of Vice President of India from 1947 to 2020.

Vice Presidents of India

Let us now see various Vice Presidents of India from 1947 till now:

1. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

He was the first Vice President of India from 1952 to 1962 (two terms) and was born on 5 September 1888 in Madras Presidency. He completed his education from Madras Christian College.

Also He was a philosopher and academician who taught philosophy at many colleges including Mysore University, Oxford University, and more. He was India’s representative at UNESCO and the Ambassador of India to the Soviet Union in the late 1940s.

He became part of the constituent assembly during the time. In 1952, he became the vice president of India. He served as the president from 1962 to 1967. He was not part of any political party.

Teachers’ Day is celebrated on his birthday every year to honor him. He also received Bharat Ratna in 1954 and Templeton Prize in 1975. He died on 17 April 1975 in Madras.

2. Dr. Zakir Hussain

He was an Indian economist and politician who served as the second Vice President of India from 1962 to 1967. He was born on 8 February 1897 in Hyderabad State and completed his Economics Ph.D. from the Frederick William University of Berlin.

Also He is the co-founder of Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi. He became its Vice-Chancellor in 1928 and received the Bharat Ratna Award in 1963. He became the Governor of Bihar in 1957 and served till 1962.

And in 1962, he became the vice president of India. He served as the third president of India from 1967 to 1969. The last issue he discussed was Bank Nationalisation. He died on 3 May 1969.

3. Varahagiri Venkata Giri

He became the third Vice President of India in 1967 and served till 1969. He was born on 10 August 1894 in Madra Presidency and completed education from Khallikote College and then from University College Dublin.

As He was a law student and on his return to India, he enrolled in Madras High Court in 1916. He became part of the congress party and the Home Rule Movement.

In 1920, he left his law practice to support the non-cooperation movement by Gandhiji. In 1926, he became the president of the All India Trade Union. He was one of the founders of the Indian Trade Union Federation, 1929.

He was the workers’ delegate from India at the International Labour Organisations. Because of his support for the labor class, he became the Minister of Labour in 1952. He was the governor of Uttar Pradesh (1957–1960), Kerala (1960–1965), and Karnataka (1965–1967).

He became the vice president of India in 1967. Following the death of Dr. Zakir Hussain, he was the acting president for a year. He became the fourth president of India and served from 1969 to 1974. He was very close to Indira Gandhi and was one of her advisors.

In order to maintain international relations, he traveled to around 22 countries. He received the Bharat Ratna Award in 1975. He died because of a heart attack in 1980.

4. Gopal Swarup Pathak

He was the fourth Vice President of India from 1969 to 1974 and was born on 24 February 1896 in Uttar Pradesh. He completed his law education from Allahabad University and joined the Allahabad High Court in 1945. In 1960, he became a member of Rajya sabha. He served as the Union Minister of Law from 1966 – 67.

From 1967-69, he was the governor of Mysore state. He also served as the chancellor of Mysore University, Bangalore University, and Karnataka University. In 1968, he became the vice president of India.

He worked under V. V. Giri and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. He was the first vice president who did not serve as a president until this time. Then he died in 1982.

5. Basappa Danappa Jatti

He served as the fifth Vice President of India from 1974 to 1979 and was born on 10 September 1912 in Bombay Presidency. He completed his law education from Rajaram Law College, Kolhapur. In 1945, he became the President of the Jamkhandi Town Municipality.

He became the chief of Jamkhandi state in 1948. After independence, this town merged with the Bombay State. He became the Minister of Health and Labour of the Bombay Government in 1952.

Basappa Danappa Jatti served as the Chief Minister of Mysore from 1958 to 1962 after becoming a part of the Mysore Legislative Assembly. He then became the Lieutenant Governor of Pondicherry in 1968 and Governor of Odisha in 1972.

In 1974, he became the Vice President of India. Following the death of then-president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, he served as the acting president in 1977 for 6 months. He died on 7 June 2002 in Bangalore.

6. Mohammad Hidayatullah

He was the sixth Vice President of India from 1979 to 1984 and was born on 17 December 1905 in Lucknow. He completed his law education from Nagpur University, Trinity College (Cambridge), and then Lincoln’s Inn. Then he joined the High Court of Central Provinces and Berar in 1930.

His law career was on boost as he served as Additional Judge of that High Court of Central Provinces and Berar, Permanent judge of same High Court, Chief Justice of the Nagpur High, Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court, Judge of the Supreme Court of India and then the Chief Justice of India in 1968.

He became the first Muslim Chief Justice of India. He was part of landmark judgments like Golaknath v. State of Punjab and the case of Ranjit D. Udeshi.

In 1969, he served as the acting president for a month as VV Giri resigned to enter the elections. He was chosen as the vice president of India in 1979. In 1982, he again served as the acting president for a month. His term ended in 1984. He died on 18 September 1992 in Bombay.

7. Ramaswamy Venkataraman

He was the seventh Vice President of India from 1984 to 1987 and was born on 4 December 1910 in Tamil Nadu. He completed his education from The Law College, Madras and worked as a lawyer in Madras High Court and then in the Supreme Court.

Also he actively participated in the Quit India Movement and was part of the Constitution Drafting committee as well. He became part of India’s Provisional Parliament in 1950 and then of first Parliament in 1952.

Ramaswamy dealt with issues like Industries, Labour, Cooperation, Power, Transport and Commercial Taxes of Madras from 1957 – 1967. He was a member of the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian Development Bank.

He served as the member and then president of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal from 1968 – 1979.

In 1980, Indira Gandhi’s government made him the Union Minister of Finance and the Minister of Defense. He is known for his contribution to India’s Missile Programme. He became the vice president of India in 1984.

Then he was elected as the seventh president of India. He worked with four prime ministers – Rajiv Gandhi, V. P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, and P. V. Narasimha Rao. He died on 27 January 2009 in Delhi.

8. Shankar Dayal Sharma

He was the ninth president of India from 1992 to 1997 and was born on 19 August 1918 in Bhopal. He completed his education from Agra University and attended various institutes for further studies including the University of Lucknow, University of Cambridge (Ph.D.), Lincoln’s Inn, and Harvard University.

In the 1940s, he became a part of the Indian National Congress and participated in Indian freedom movements.

Shankar Dayal Sharma became the chief minister of Bhopal in 1952. He served until the establishment of Madhya Pradesh (1956) and became the president of the All India Congress Committee in 1972. Minister for Communications was under him from 1974 to 77.

He served as the governor of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Maharastra. In 1987, he became the vice president of India and chairman of Rajya Sabha. In 1992, he became the ninth president of India. He died on 26 December 1999 in Delhi.

9. Kocheril Raman Narayanan

He was the ninth Vice President of India from 1992 – 1997 and was born on 4 February 1921 in Kerala. He completed his education from the University of Kerala and then from the London School of Economics.

In 1949, he became a member of the Indian Foreign Service and was a diplomat at Rangoon, Tokyo, London, Canberra, and Hanoi embassies.

He was also the Indian Ambassador to the USA and China and joined the Indian National Congress in 1984.

He was the representative of the Ottapalam constituency at Lok sabha from 1984 – 1991 and was the minister of state and handled departments of Planning (1985), External Affairs (1985–86), and Science and Technology (1986–89).

Also He was the tenth President of India from 1997 to 2002. He was the first Dalit President of India. He died on 9 November 2005 in Delhi.

10. Krishan Kant

He served as the tenth Vice President of India from 1997 to 2002 and was born on 28 February 1927 in Punjab Province. He completed his science education from Banaras Engineering College and Banaras Hindu University.

Also he worked for the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research as a scientist. He took part in the Indian Independence movement and eventually became a part of the Indian National Congress.

Krishan Kant served as the chairman of the Committee on Railway Reservations and Bookings (1972 – 1977). He was also a part of the executive council of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis.

The V.P. Singh government made him the governor of Andhra Pradesh in 1989 (till 1996). In 1997, he became the vice president of India. He died on 27 July 2002 in Delhi.

11. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat

He was the eleventh Vice President of India from 2002 to 2007 and was born on 23 October 1925 in Rajputana Agency. He served as an MLA from several constituencies – Ramgarh (1952), Sri Madhopur (1957), Kisan Pol (1962 and 1967), Chabda (1980), and Nimbaher (1985).

Also He became a member of Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh in 1973. Then he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980.

He became the Chief Minister of Rajasthan and served for three terms – (1993 – 1998), (1990 – 1992), and (1977 – 1980). In 2002, he won the election for vice president of the country. He served till 2007 and participated in the presidential election but lost it.

Shekhawat took the initiative to start the “Antyodaya Yojana” to uplift the poor. He died on 15 May 2010 in Jaipur.

12. Mohammad Hamid Ansari

He was the twelfth Vice President of India from 2007 to 2017 (two terms) and was born on 1 April 1937 in Bengal Presidency. He completed his education from the University of Calcutta and then Aligarh Muslim University.

Then He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1961. He became the Indian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (1976 – 1980), to Australia (1985–1989), Afghanistan (1989–1990), Iran (1990–1992), and Saudi Arabia (1995–1999).

Mohd Hamid Ansari was the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations from 1993 to 1995. He became the president of the National Commission for Minorities in 2006. In 2007, he became the vice president and was re-elected in 2012. His term ended in 2017.

13. Venkaiah Naidu

Venkaiah Naidu is the current and thirteenth Vice President of India and was born on 1 July 1949 in Madras State. He completed his law education from Andhra University and was part of the Jai Andhra Movement of 1972.

He served as the president of BJP’s youth wing from 1977 – 1980 and became a member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly for Udayagiri in 1978. Then he became a member of Rajya Sabha from Karnataka ( 1998 – 2010 ).

From 2000- to 2002, he was the Minister for Rural Development. In 2003, he became the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

He also served as a Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of Information and Broadcasting till 2017. He became the Vice president of India in 2017 with a majority of 516 votes. His term will end in 2022.

Conclusion

The Vice President is an important part of the Indian Constitution which is important for the IAS Exam and all its stages. This article will cover all 13 vice presidents of India – timeline, education and qualification, political career, and their success.

From independence till now, everything you need to know about the vice president is covered above. This article is relevant for competitive exams like UPSC, RRB, SSC, etc. If you are an aspirant then this article is for you. Read it thoroughly for the exams and to know the constitution better.