India is the biggest democracy in the world. It has seen several leaders in the past. We are providing you a detailed background on them (Indian PM) in this article. Read it till the end of Prime Minister List .
In Details About PMO’s of India
The Prime Minister is the top-most servant of any nation and the top executive of the country. India is the largest democracy in the world with the President as its head. All the executive powers are vested in the Prime Minister and his cabinet in the country. The Prime Minister is the head or representative of the biggest alliance of the country i.e., the party he/she belongs to. He represents the biggest party in the lower house of the Parliament i.e., in the Lok Sabha.
India got independence on 15th August, 1947 and since then it has had several Prime Ministers and Presidents. Since independence, India has had 15 PMs with Jawaharlal Nehru as its first Prime Minister. He belonged to one of the oldest parties in India, called Indian National Congress. He is the sole Prime Minister of India who is recalled as the longest serving PM of India (until his death).
However, his daughter Indira Gandhi became the first woman Prime Minister of India. Pt. Nehru’s term was succeeded by fellow Congressmen Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964. He served for nearly a year and seven month term which ended due to his sudden unfortunate demise. Then, he was succeeded by Indira Gandhi in 1966. She led the country for more than a decade and was succeeded by Morarji Desai. He belonged to Janata Party, the first Prime Minister of India belonging to a non-congress party.
However, his period was a shorter one. He was voted out of power very soon and right during his downfall, his reign was taken over again by Indira Gandhi. However, after the resignation of Morarji Desai, the office of Prime Minister was taken over by Chaudhary Charan Singh. He is also remembered as the ‘Champion of Indian Peasants’ by the modern Indians.
Indira Gandhi’s reign ended in 1984. During her tenure, India for the only time has faced the situation of Emergency, during the year of 1975-77. It is marked as a blot on Indira Gandhi’s tenure as the Prime Minister. She was assassinated by her personal guards. After her term, her son Rajiv Gandhi took over as the Prime Minister of the country. He is considered to be the country’s youngest Prime Minister till now. He was third from the Gandhian family to lead the country.
His tenure ended in 1989 when Janata Party’s Vishwanath Pratap Singh took over as the Prime Minister of the country. His government was formed with the national alliance and ran successfully for a year. Chandra Shekhar was the face of this government. He served as the 8th Prime Minister of India. After then, Congress again came to power with P.V Narasimha Rao as the Prime Minister in 1991.
India then witnessed several changes like Liberalization Privatization and Globalization with Dr. Manmohan Singh as the Finance Minister. Rao’s five year term was cut short by Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the fourth year of their tenure. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the face of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). Vajpayee was elected the third time in 1999, however his second term was in 1998 for 19 months. During his first tenure in 1996, he led the country for merely 13 days, as he was one of the members of United Front.
During his third tenure, he managed an alliance with National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and formed a five-year government. He was the first Prime Minister who did not belong to Indian National Congress and completed the tenure of his government.
In 2004, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was again succeeded by Congress’ Manmohan Singh. His United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was in power for a decade i.e., from 2004-2014. However, in 2014, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Narendra Modi took over the leadership of the country. He successfully completed the five-year tenure of his government.
However, this 2019 he was re-elected with an even bigger majority. His second term is going to be over in the year 2024. India is yet to see if someone from a different Congress background can rule the country for so long.
A Prime Minister is the top most cabinet minister in any government. He has the privilege to be the member of both houses of the Parliament. The Prime Minister of the country possesses various powers and authorities which according to him enable the smooth, efficient and effective functioning of the government. According to the Article 75 (3) of the Indian Constitution, the Union Cabinet is answerable to the lower house of the Parliament i.e., Lok Sabha.
However, if the no-confidence motion is raise in the Parliament, the Prime Minister will have to prove his majority. A Prime Minister of the country has the Executive powers, Administrative powers and Legislative powers.
However, to be the Prime Minister of India, following are the eligibility to required:
- Indian Citizen
- Member of Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha
- Above the age of 25 years in case of Lok Sabha and above the age of 30 years in case of Rajya Sabha
- Not the holder of any profitable office under the Government of India or any state
Note: If any person is elected as the Prime Minister of India, he’ll have to vacate any other post in a private or government company and may take the post back after the completion of their tenure. They cannot lead any other role while being in the Cabinet.
Sh. Narendra Damodardas Modi is the current leader of the country, with Sh. Ram Nath Kovind as its President.
Here’s the complete list of the Prime Ministers India has had till now:
| S.No | Name | Tenure | Party |
| 1 | Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru | 1947 – 1952; 1952 – 1957; 1957 – 1962; 1962 – 1964 | Indian National Congress |
| 2 | Gulzarilal Nanda (Interim) | May 1964 – June 1964; Jan 1966 – Jan 1966 | Indian National Congress |
| 3 | Lal Bahadur Shastri | 1964 – 1966 | Indian National Congress |
| 4 | Indira Gandhi | Jan 1966 – March 1967;1967 – 1971;1971 – 1977;1980 – 1984 | Indian National Congress |
| 5 | Morarji Desai | 1977 – 1979 | Janata Party |
| 6 | Chaudhary Charan Singh | 1979 – 1980 | Janata Party (Secular) |
| 7 | Rajiv Gandhi | 1984 – 1989 | Indian National Congress |
| 8 | Vishwanath Pratap Singh | 1989 – 1990 | Janata Party |
| 9 | Chandra Shekhar | 1990 – 1991 | Samajwadi Janata Party |
| 10 | P.V Narsimha Rao | 1991 – 1996 | Indian National Congress |
| 11 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | May 1996 – June 1996;March 1998 – October 1999;1999 – 2004 | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| 12 | H.D Deve Gowda | June 1996 – April 1997 | Janata Party |
| 13 | I.K Gujral | April 1997 – March 1998 | Janata Party |
| 14 | Manmohan Singh | 2004 – 2009, 2009 – 2014 | Indian National Congress |
| 15 | Narendra Damodardas Modi | 2014 – 2019;2019 – Present PM | Bharatiya Janata Party |