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]
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.
On 11 August 2022, Jagdeep Dhankhar took office as the 14th vice president.[10]
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:
| Name | Home state | Term of office | Mandate | Prior positions held | Party | President | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | Tamil Nadu | 1952 | 1957 | 1952 | Independent | Rajendra Prasad | |||
1957 | 1962 | 1957 | ||||||||
| Educationist and former diplomat. Elected as the first 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. | ||||||||||
| 2 | Zakir Husain | Uttar Pradesh | 1962 | 1967 | 1962 | Independent | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | |||
| Educationist and former governor of Bihar. Elected as the second 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. | ||||||||||
| 3 | Varahagiri Venkata Giri | Odisha | 1967 | 1969 | 1967 |
| Independent | Zakir Husain | ||
| Labour leader, former union minister and former governor. Elected as the third vice president in the 1967 election defeating Mohammad Habib. Became Acting President following the demise 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) | ||||||||||
| 4 | Gopal Swarup Pathak | Uttar Pradesh | 1969 | 1974 | 1969 | Independent | Varahagiri Venkata Giri | |||
| Former union minister and governor. Elected as the fourth vice president in 1969 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of his predecessor Varahagiri Venkata 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 | |||||||||
| 5 | Basappa Danappa Jatti | Karnataka | 1974 | 1979 | 1974 | Indian National Congress | ||||
| Self (acting) | ||||||||||
| Former chief minister of Mysore and former governor. Elected as the fifth 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 | |||||||||
| 6 | Mohammad Hidayatullah | Uttar Pradesh | 1979 | 1984 | 1979 | Independent | ||||
| Former chief justice of the Supreme Court and former acting president. Elected unopposed as the sixth 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 | |||||||||
| 7 | Ramaswamy Venkataraman | Tamil Nadu | 1984 | 1987 | 1984 | Indian National Congress | ||||
| Former union minister. Elected as the seventh 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 (25 July 1987 3 September 1987) | ||||||||||
| 8 | Shankar Dayal Sharma | Madhya Pradesh | 1987 | 1992 | 1987 | Indian National Congress | Ramaswamy Venkataraman | |||
| Former union minister. Elected unopposed as the eighth 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 (25 July 1992 21 August 1992) | ||||||||||
| 9 | Kocheril Raman Narayanan | Kerala | 1992 | 1997 | 1992 | Indian National Congress | Shankar Dayal Sharma | |||
| Former diplomat and former union minister. Elected as the ninth 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 (25 July 1997 21 August 1997) | ||||||||||
| 10 | Krishan Kant | Punjab | 1997 | 2002 | 1997 | Janata Dal | Kochirel Raman Narayanan | |||
| Former parliamentarian and former governor. Elected as the tenth 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) | ||||||||||
| 11 | Bhairon Singh Shekhawat | Rajasthan | 2002 | 2007 | 2002 | Bharatiya Janata Party | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam | |||
| Former chief minister of Rajasthan. Elected as the eleventh vice president in 2002 defeating his rival candidate Sushilkumar Shinde of the Indian National Congress. First-ever 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. Resigned from the vice presidency on 21 July 2007 after being defeated in the presidential election. | ||||||||||
| Position vacant (21 July 2007 11 August 2007) | ||||||||||
| 12 | Mohammad Hamid Ansari | West Bengal | 2007 | 2012 | 2007 | Indian National Congress | Pratibha Patil | |||
| Pranab Mukherjee | ||||||||||
2012 | 2017 | 2012 | ||||||||
| Ram Nath Kovind | ||||||||||
| Former diplomat. Elected as the twelfth 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. | ||||||||||
| 13 | Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu | Andhra Pradesh | 2017 | 2022 | 2017 | Bharatiya Janata Party | ||||
| Former union minister and parliamentarian. Elected as the thirteenth 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 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 | |||||||||
| 14 | Jagdeep Dhankhar | Rajasthan | 2022 | Incumbent | 2022 | Bharatiya Janata Party | ||||
| Former union minister, parliamentarian and governor. Elected as the fourteenth 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. Currently serving in office. | ||||||||||