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.
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. They can be removed by a resolution passed by an effective majority in the Rajya Sabha. 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. There have been 15 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. He later served as the president. 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. Out of 15 vice presidents, six of them later went on to become the president. Krishan Kant has been the only one to die during his tenure. Venkaiah Naidu is the first vice president to be born after Indian Independence.
List of vice presidents 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 related party from which they originally came.
#Portrait NameTerm of officeElectionPresidentParty 1.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan13 May 195213 May 195710 years1952Rajendra PrasadIndependent13 May 195713 May 19621957 (Unopposed)2.Zakir Husain13 May 196213 May 19675 years1962Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan3.V. V. Giri13 May 19673 May 19691967Zakir Husain4.Gopal Swarup Pathak31 August 196931 August 19745 years1969Varahagiri Venkata Giri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed5.B. D. Jatti31 August 197431 August 19795 years1974Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Neelam Sanjiva ReddyIndian National Congress (R)6.Mohammad Hidayatullah31 August 197931 August 19845 years1979Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Zail SinghIndependent7.Ramaswamy Venkataraman31 August 198424 July 19871984Zail SinghIndian National Congress (I)8.Shankar Dayal Sharma3 September 198724 July 19921987Ramaswamy Venkataraman9.K. R. Narayanan21 August 199224 July 19971992Shankar Dayal Sharma10.Krishan Kant21 August 199727 July 20021997K. R. Narayanan A. P. J. Abdul KalamJanata Dal11.Bhairon Singh Shekhawat19 August 200221 July 20072002A. P. J. Abdul KalamBharatiya Janata Party 12. Mohammad Hamid Ansari11 August 200711 August 201210 years2007(60.5%)Pratibha Patil Pranab MukherjeeIndian National Congress11 August 201211 August 20172012 (67.31%)Pranab Mukherjee13.Venkaiah Naidu11 August 201711 August 20225 years2017Ram Nath Kovind Droupadi MurmuBharatiya Janata Party14.Jagdeep Dhankhar11 August 20222022Droupadi Murmu15.C. P. Radhakrishnan12 September 2025Incumbent 2025
Statistics
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
References
External links Vice-President of India (official website)