The prime minister of India is the chief executive of the Government of India.[1][2] Although the president of India is the constitutional, nominal, and ceremonial head of state,[3][4][5][6] in practice and ordinarily, the executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers.[7][8][6] The prime minister is the leader elected by the party with a majority in the lower house of the Indian parliament, the Lok Sabha, which is the main legislative body in the Republic of India.[9] The prime minister and their cabinet are at all times responsible to the Lok Sabha.[10][11] The prime minister can be a member of the Lok Sabha or of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament. The prime minister ranks third in the order of precedence.

  • Top left: Jawaharlal Nehru was the first and the longest-serving prime minister in Indian history.
  • Top center: Indira Gandhi was the first and only woman to serve as prime minister.
  • Top right: Morarji Desai was the first non-Congress prime minister.
  • Bottom left: Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first non-Congress prime minister to complete a full 5 year term and the only non-Congress prime minister to date to have served on three occasions.
  • Bottom center: Manmohan Singh was the first prime minister from a minority religion.
  • Bottom right: Narendra Modi is the only prime minister to be born in independent India and is the current prime minister.

The prime minister is appointed by the president of India; however, the prime minister has to enjoy the confidence of the majority of Lok Sabha members, who are directly elected every five years, unless a prime minister resigns. The prime minister is the presiding member of the Council of Ministers of the Union government. The prime minister unilaterally controls the selection and dismissal of members of the Council; and allocation of posts to members within the government. This Council, which is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha as per Article 75(3), assists the president regarding the operations under the latter's powers; however, by the virtue of Article 74 of the Constitution, such 'aid and advice' tendered by the Council is binding.

Since 1947, India has had 14 prime ministers.[lower-alpha 1] Jawaharlal Nehru was India's first prime minister, serving as prime minister of the Dominion of India from 15 August 1947 until 26 January 1950, and thereafter of the Republic of India until his death in May 1964. (India conducted its first post-independence general elections in 1952). Earlier, Nehru had served as prime minister of the Interim Government of India during the British Raj from 2 September 1946 until 14 August 1947, his party, the Indian National Congress having won the 1946 Indian provincial elections. Nehru was succeeded by Lal Bahadur Shastri, whose 1 year 7-month term ended in his death in Tashkent, then in the USSR, where he had signed the Tashkent Declaration between India and Pakistan.[13] Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter, succeeded Shastri in 1966 to become the country's first female prime minister.[14] Eleven years later, her party the Indian National Congress lost the 1977 Indian general election to the Janata Party, whose leader Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister.[15] After Desai resigned in 1979, his former associate Charan Singh briefly held office until the Congress won the 1980 Indian general election and Indira Gandhi returned as prime minister.[16] Her second term as prime minister ended five years later on 31 October 1984, when she was assassinated by her bodyguards.[14] Her son Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as India's youngest premier. Members of Nehru–Gandhi family have been prime minister for approximately 38 years.[17]

After a general election loss, Rajiv Gandhi's five-year term ended; his former cabinet colleague, Vishwanath Pratap Singh of the Janata Dal, formed the year-long National Front coalition government in 1989. A seven-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, Rajiv Gandhi having been assassinated earlier that year.[18] Rao's five-year term was succeeded by four short-lived governments—Atal Bihari Vajpayee from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for 13 days in 1996, a year each under United Front prime ministers H. D. Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral, and Vajpayee again for 19 months in 1998–1999.[18] In 1998, Vajpayee's National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won the general election, the first non-Congress alliance to do so, and he served a full five-year term as prime minister.[19] The Congress, and its United Progressive Alliance won the general elections in 2004 and 2009, Manmohan Singh serving as prime minister between 2004 and 2014.[20] The BJP won the 2014 Indian general election, and its parliamentary leader Narendra Modi formed the first non-Congress single party majority government. Modi has served as prime minister since.[21]

List of prime ministers of India

Key
  • No.: Incumbent number
  • Assassinated or died in office
  • § Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term
  • RES Resigned
  • NC Resigned following a no-confidence motion
Legend

Colour key (for political coalitions/parties):

No. Portrait Name
(born  died)
Constituency
Term of office & mandate
Duration in years and days
Other ministerial offices held Political party Government Head of State
(Tenure)
1 Jawaharlal Nehru
(1889–1964)
United Provinces
(Constituency Assembly),
MP for Phulpur
15 August
1947
27 May
1964[†]
Indian National Congress 1st ministry
Nehru I
King
George VI

(1947–1950)
Governors-General:
Lord Louis Mountbatten
(1947–1948),
C. Rajagopalachari
(1948–1950)
President
Rajendra Prasad

(1950–1962)
1951–52 2nd ministry
Nehru II
1957 3rd ministry
Nehru III
1962 4th ministry
Nehru IV
President
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

(1962–1967)
16 years, 286 days
Gulzarilal Nanda
(1898–1998)
MP for Sabarkantha
27 May
1964
9 June
1964
Interim ministry
Nanda I
13 days
2 Lal Bahadur Shastri
(1904–1966)
MP for Allahabad
9 June
1964
11 January
1966[†]
5th ministry
Shastri
1 year, 216 days
Gulzarilal Nanda
(1898–1998)
MP for Sabarkantha
11 January
1966
24 January
1966
Interim ministry
Nanda II
13 days
3 Indira Gandhi
(1917–1984)
MP for Uttar Pradesh
(Rajya Sabha, 1966–1967)
MP for Rae Bareli (1967–1977)
24 January
1966
24 March
1977
6th ministry
Indira I
1967 President
Zakir Husain

(1967–1969)
Acting President
V. V. Giri

(1969)
Acting President
M. Hidayatullah

(1969)
President
V. V. Giri

(1969–1974)
1971 Indian National Congress (R) 7th ministry
Indira II
President
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed

(1974–1977)
Acting President
B. D. Jatti

(1977)
11 years, 59 days
4 Morarji Desai
(1896–1995)
MP for Surat
24 March
1977
28 July
1979[RES]
1977 Janata Party 8th ministry
Desai
President
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy

(1977–1982)
2 years, 126 days
5 Charan Singh
(1902–1987)
MP for Baghpat
28 July
1979
14 January
1980[RES]
None Janata Party (Secular) 9th ministry
Charan
170 days
(3) Indira Gandhi
(1917–1984)
MP for Medak
14 January
1980[§]
31 October
1984[†]
1980 Indian National Congress (I) 10th ministry
Indira III
President
Giani Zail Singh

(1982–1987)
4 years, 291 days
6 Rajiv Gandhi
(1944–1991)
MP for Amethi
31 October
1984
2 December
1989
11th ministry
Rajiv
1984 President
R. Venkataraman

(1987–1992)
5 years, 32 days
7 Vishwanath Pratap Singh
(1931–2008)
MP for Fatehpur
2 December
1989
10 November
1990[NC]
1989 Janata Dal 12th ministry
V. P. Singh
343 days
8 Chandra Shekhar
(1927–2007)
MP for Ballia
10 November
1990
21 June
1991[RES]
Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) 13th ministry
Chandra Shekhar
223 days
9 P. V. Narasimha Rao

(1921–2004)
MP for Nandyal
21 June
1991
16 May
1996
1991 Indian National Congress (I) 14th ministry
Rao
President
Shankar Dayal Sharma

(1992–1997)
4 years, 330 days
10 Atal Bihari Vajpayee
(1924–2018)
MP for Lucknow
16 May
1996
1 June
1996[RES]
1996 Bharatiya Janata Party 15th ministry
Vajpayee I
16 days
11 H. D. Deve Gowda
(born 1933)
MP for Karnataka (Rajya Sabha)
1 June
1996
21 April
1997[RES]
Janata Dal
(United Front)
16th ministry
Deve Gowda
324 days
12 Inder Kumar Gujral
(1919–2012)
MP for Bihar (Rajya Sabha)
21 April
1997
19 March
1998[RES]
17th ministry
Gujral
President
K. R. Narayanan

(1997–2002)
332 days
(10) Atal Bihari Vajpayee
(1924–2018)
MP for Lucknow
19 March
1998[§]
22 May
2004
1998 Bharatiya Janata Party
(NDA)
18th ministry
Vajpayee II
1999 19th ministry
Vajpayee III
President
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

(2002–2007)
6 years, 64 days
13 Manmohan Singh
(born 1932)
MP for Assam (Rajya Sabha)
22 May
2004
26 May
2014
2004 Indian National Congress
(UPA)
20th ministry
Manmohan I
President
Pratibha Patil

(2007–2012)
2009 21st ministry
Manmohan II
President
Pranab Mukherjee

(2012–2017)
10 years, 4 days
14 Narendra Modi
(born 1950)
MP for Varanasi
26 May
2014
Incumbent 2014 Bharatiya Janata Party
(NDA)
22nd ministry
Modi I
President
Ram Nath Kovind

(2017–2022)
2019 23rd ministry
Modi II
President
Droupadi Murmu

(2022–present)
9 years, 231 days

List of prime ministers by length of term

No. Name Party Length of term
Longest continuous term Total years of premiership
1 Jawaharlal Nehru INC 16 years, 286 days 16 years, 286 days
2 Indira Gandhi INC/INC(I)/INC(R) 11 years, 59 days 15 years, 350 days
3 Manmohan Singh INC 10 years, 4 days 10 years, 4 days
4 Narendra Modi BJP 9 years, 231 days 9 years, 231 days
5 Atal Bihari Vajpayee BJP 6 years, 64 days 6 years, 80 days
6 Rajiv Gandhi INC(I) 5 years, 32 days 5 years, 32 days
7 P. V. Narasimha Rao INC(I) 4 years, 330 days 4 years, 330 days
8 Morarji Desai JP 2 years, 126 days 2 years, 126 days
9 Lal Bahadur Shastri INC 1 year, 216 days 1 year, 216 days
10 Vishwanath Pratap Singh JD 343 days 343 days
11 Inder Kumar Gujral JD 332 days 332 days
12 H. D. Deve Gowda JD 324 days 324 days
13 Chandra Shekhar SJP(R) 223 days 223 days
14 Charan Singh JP(S) 170 days 170 days
Acting Gulzarilal Nanda INC 13 days 26 days

List by party

Political parties by total timespan of their member holding PMO (22 July 2022)
No. Political party Number of Prime ministers Total years of holding PMO
1 INC/INC(I)/INC(R) 6 (+1 acting) 54 years, 123 days
2 BJP 2 15 years, 308 days
3 JD 3 2 years, 269 days
4 JP 1 2 years, 126 days
5 SJP(R) 1 223 days
6 JP(S) 1 170 days

Parties by total duration (in years) of holding Prime Minister's Office

10
20
30
40
50
60
INC
BJP
JD
JP
JP(S)
SJP(R)

See also

Footnotes

  • Assassinated or died in office
  • § Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term
  • RES Resigned
  • NC Resigned following a no-confidence motion

Notes

  1. 15 including Gulzarilal Nanda who twice acted in the role, of which 6 having at least one full term, ruling country for about 60 years.[12]

References

  1. Pillay, Anashri (2019), "The Constitution of the Republic of India", in Masterman, Roger; Schütze, Robert (eds.), Cambridge Companion to Comparative Constitutional Law, Cambridge University Press, pp. 146–147, doi:10.1017/9781316716731, ISBN 978-1-107-16781-0, LCCN 2019019723, S2CID 219881288, The head of government is the Prime Minister.
  2. Dam, Shubhankar (2016), "Executive", in Choudhry, Sujit; Khosla, Madhav; Mehta, Pratap Bhanu (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, p. 307, ISBN 978-0-19-870489-8, The Prime Minister is the head of government.
  3. Pillay, Anashri (2019), "The Constitution of the Republic of India", in Masterman, Roger; Schütze, Robert (eds.), Cambridge Companion to Comparative Constitutional Law, Cambridge University Press, pp. 146–147, doi:10.1017/9781316716731, ISBN 978-1-107-16781-0, LCCN 2019019723, S2CID 219881288, An elected President is the nominal head of state but exercises little power.
  4. Majeed, Akhtar (2005), "Republic of India", in Kincaid, John; Tarr, G. Alan (eds.), Constitutional Origins, Structure, and Change in Federal Countries, A Global Dialogue on Federalism, Volume I, Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press for Forum of Federation and International Association of Centers for Federal Studies, pp. 180–207, 185, ISBN 0-7735-2849-0, ...The president is the constitutional head. (p. 185)
  5. Dam, Shubhankar (2016), "Executive", in Choudhry, Sujit; Khosla, Madhav; Mehta, Pratap Bhanu (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, p. 307, ISBN 978-0-19-870489-8, The President is the head of the Union of India
  6. 1 2 Singh, Nirvikar (2018), "Holding India Together: The Role of Institutions of Federalism", in Mishra, Ajit; Ray, Tridip (eds.), Markets, Governance, and Institutions: In the Process of Economic Development, Oxford University Press, pp. 300–323, 306, ISBN 978-0-19-881255-5
  7. Majeed, Akhtar (2005), "Republic of India", in Kincaid, John; Tarr, G. Alan (eds.), Constitutional Origins, Structure, and Change in Federal Countries, A Global Dialogue on Federalism, Volume I, Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press for Forum of Federation and International Association of Centers for Federal Studies, pp. 180–207, 185, ISBN 0-7735-2849-0, ...the executive authority is vested in the prime minister and in their Council of Ministers. (p. 185)
  8. Dam, Shubhankar (2016), "Executive", in Choudhry, Sujit; Khosla, Madhav; Mehta, Pratap Bhanu (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, p. 307, ISBN 978-0-19-870489-8, Executive power, ordinarily, is exercised by Prime Minister.
  9. Pillay, Anashri (2019), "The Constitution of the Republic of India", in Masterman, Roger; Schütze, Robert (eds.), Cambridge Companion to Comparative Constitutional Law, Cambridge University Press, pp. 146–147, doi:10.1017/9781316716731, ISBN 978-1-107-16781-0, LCCN 2019019723, S2CID 219881288, ... Like the British system, there are two houses of parliament the Lok Sabha, which has 545 members, is the main legislative body. In practice, it is the party with a majority in the Lok Sabha which elects its leader as the Prime Minister.
  10. Dam, Shubhankar (2016), "Executive", in Choudhry, Sujit; Khosla, Madhav; Mehta, Pratap Bhanu (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, p. 307, ISBN 978-0-19-870489-8, Along with his or her cabinet, the Prime Minister is responsible to the Lower House of Parliament.
  11. Majeed, Akhtar (2005), "Republic of India", in Kincaid, John; Tarr, G. Alan (eds.), Constitutional Origins, Structure, and Change in Federal Countries, A Global Dialogue on Federalism, Volume I, Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press for Forum of Federation and International Association of Centers for Federal Studies, pp. 180–207, 185, ISBN 0-7735-2849-0, ...Both for the Union and the states, a "cabinet-type" system of parliamentary government has been instituted in which the executive is continuously responsible to the legislature. (p. 185)
  12. Mahurkar, Uday (15 May 1996). "At 98, two-time interim PM Gulzarilal Nanda is the epitome of Gandhian ideals". India Today. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  13. Malhotra, Inder (15 January 1995). "Book review: Lal Bahadur Shastri Prime Minister of India 1964-66: A Life of Truth in Politics". India Today. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  14. 1 2 Vijaykumar, Neeti (19 January 2017). "Today in 1966: Indira Gandhi becomes Prime Minister". The Week. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  15. "Before Modi, there was Morarjibhai". Rediff.com. 7 April 2014. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  16. "JD-U demands Bharat Ratna to former PM Charan Singh". The Economic Times. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  17. Denyer, Simon (2 December 2011). "In India, next generation of Gandhi dynasty". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  18. 1 2 Iype, George (3 May 2004). "What the former PMs are doing". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 25 March 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  19. Ghosh, Deepshikha (16 August 2018). "Atal Bihari Vajpayee: The 3-Time PM Who Captivated India With His Oratory". NDTV. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  20. "PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi Greet Manmohan Singh On His 86th Birthday". Outlook. 26 September 2018. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  21. Panda, Ankit (16 May 2014). "BJP, Modi Win Landslide Victory in Indian Elections". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
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