Prime Minister of India
The
Prime Minister of India is, in practice, the most powerful person in the government of
India. The Prime Minister is technically outranked by the
President of India, but because the President's duties are largely ceremonial, the Prime Minister has effective responsibility for government.
India follows a
parliamentary system of government, which is modelled after that of the
United Kingdom. In this system, the Prime Minister is generally the leader of a party (or coalition of parties) that can gain a majority in the lower house (
Lok Sabha) of the
Parliament of India. The Prime Minister either has to be a current member of one of the houses of
Parliament, or be elected within six months of being appointed.
Formally, the Prime Minister is appointed by the
President. The President invites only that person to be the Prime Minister who is leader of the majority party in the
Lok Sabha. But when no single party gets the majority, the president may invite the leader of a
combination of parties constituting the majority in the Lok Sabha or the leader of the single largest party commanding the support of the majority in the Lok Sabha.
The Prime Minister selects the members of the Council of Ministers who are formally appointed by the President. He allocates portfolios among the
ministers and he can drop any minister. The Prime Minister presides over the meetings of the Council of Ministers. He decides the policies of the
government. He coordinates the work of different ministries and solves inter - departmental conflicts. The Prime Minister is the Chairperson of the
Planning Commission which is a key body in the process of planning.
The Prime Minister advises the President on all important matters like appointments judges of the
High Courts and the
Supreme Court,
Chief Election Commissioner,
Comptroller and Auditor General. He also advises the President on the summoning and proroguing of the
Parliament, the dissolving of the Lok Sabha and the declaration of emergencies.
There have been fourteen Prime Ministers of India.
Jawaharlal Nehru served for four terms (1947-1952, 1952-1957, 1957-1962, and 1962-1964).
Indira Gandhi served three terms (1966-1971, 1971-1977, and 1980-1984)
Atal Behari Vajpayee served on three occasions (1996, 1998-1999, 1999-2004).
Gulzari Lal Nanda served as acting Prime Minister during two transition periods, but is generally not counted as a Prime Minister in his own right.
The early years were dominated by the
Indian National Congress party, which held the premiership for the first thirty years of India's independence.
Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress Prime Minister in 1977.
Atal Behari Vajpayee of the
Bharatiya Janata Party became that party's first Prime Minister in 1996, and was later returned to power in 1998. The
2004 elections to the Lok Sabha returned the Congress back to power, and
Dr. Manmohan Singh was named the Prime Minister-designate on
19 May 2004 after party president
Sonia Gandhi declined the leadership of Congress Parliamentary party apparently due to opposition on account of her foreign origin. He was sworn in on
May 22,
2004. Singh is the first
Sikh Prime Minister of India. He is also the only Prime Minister who has never been elected to the
Lok Sabha.
Four out of the 13 prime ministers were born in
Allahabad; the
University of Allahabad has produced three prime ministers; and two prime ministers represented Allahabad as MPs. Thus, the city of Allahabad in some way or other has produced eight prime ministers out of the 14 (including the one acting prime minister). Seven out of the 13 prime ministers were born in
Uttar Pradesh; nine prime ministers studied in Uttar Pradesh; and ten prime ministers represented constituencies in Uttar Pradesh as MPs. Thus the state of Uttar Pradesh in some way or other has produced nine distinct prime ministers out of the 14 (including the one acting prime minister).
The official residence of the Prime Minister of India is
7 Race Course Road.
| No. | Name | Took Office | Left Office | Party | Birth Place | Studies | - bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | 01 | Jawaharlal Nehru | August 15, 1947 | May 27, 1964 | Indian National Congress | Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh | Harrow;
Trinity College, Cambridge | Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh;
Phulpur (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh>- bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | * | Gulzarilal Nanda | May 27, 1964 | June 9, 1964 | Indian National Congress | Sialkot, Punjab | University of Allahabad, Allahabad | Bombay, Maharashtra>- bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | 02 | Lal Bahadur Shastri | June 9, 1964 | January 11, 1966 | Indian National Congress | Mughalsarai, Uttar Pradesh | Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi | Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh>- bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | * | Gulzarilal Nanda | January 11, 1966 | January 24, 1966 | Indian National Congress | Sialkot, Punjab | University of Allahabad, Allahabad | Bombay, Maharashtra>- bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | 03 | Indira Gandhi | January 24, 1966 | March 24, 1977 | Indian National Congress | Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh | Santiniketan, Calcutta;
Oxford University, England | Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh;
Medak, Andhra Pradesh>- bgcolor="#ADDFAD" | 04 | Morarji Desai | March 24, 1977 | July 28, 1979 | Janata Party | Bhadeli, Gujarat | (unknown) | Surat, Gujarat>- bgcolor="#ADDFAD" | 05 | Choudhary Charan Singh | July 28, 1979 | January 14, 1980 | Janata Party | Meerut, Uttar Pradesh | (unknown) | Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh>- bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | ** | Indira Gandhi | January 14, 1980 | October 31, 1984 | Indian National Congress | Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh | Santiniketan, Calcutta;
Oxford University, England | Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh;
Medak, Andhra Pradesh>- bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | 06 | Rajiv Gandhi | October 31, 1984 | December 2, 1989 | Congress I*** | Bombay, Maharashtra | Allahabad;
Cambridge University, England | Amethi, Uttar Pradesh>- bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 07 | Vishwanath Pratap Singh | December 2, 1989 | November 10, 1990 | Janata Dal | Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh | University of Allahabad;
University of Pune | Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh>- bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 08 | Chandra Shekhar | November 10, 1990 | June 21, 1991 | Janata Dal | Ibrahimpatti, Uttar Pradesh | University of Allahabad, Allahabad | Balia, Uttar Pradesh>- bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | 09 | P. V. Narasimha Rao | June 21, 1991 | May 16, 1996 | Congress I | Karimnagar, Andhra Pradesh | Osmania University, Hyderabad;
Bombay University;
Nagpur University | Berhampur, Orissa>- bgcolor="#ffeecc" | 10 | Atal Behari Vajpayee | May 16, 1996 | June 1, 1996 | Bharatiya Janata Party | Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh | Laxmi Bai College, Gwalior;
DAV College, Kanpur | Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh>- bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 11 | H. D. Deve Gowda | June 1, 1996 | April 21, 1997 | Janata Dal | Haradanahalli, Karnataka | Hassan, Karnataka | Kanakapura; Hassan, Karnataka>- bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 12 | Inder Kumar Gujral | April 21, 1997 | March 19, 1998 | Janata Dal | Jhelum (now in Pakistan) | DAV College,Hailey College of Commerce, Lahore | Jalandhar, Punjab>- bgcolor="#ffeecc" | ** | Atal Behari Vajpayee | March 19, 1998 | May 22, 2004 | Bharatiya Janata Party | Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh | Laxmi Bai College, Gwalior;
DAV College, Kanpur | Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh>- bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | 13 | Dr. Manmohan Singh | May 22, 2004 | In Office | Indian National Congress | Gah (now in Pakistan) | Panjab University, Chandigarh;
Cambridge University;
Oxford University | State of Assam in the Upper House Rajya Sabha |
|---|
* acting ** resumed office*** Indian National Congress became Congress I ( I for Indira)*
Deputy Prime Minister of India*
Chief Ministers of India*
pmindia.nic.in: Office of the Prime Minister of India
