Prime Minister of India
The Prime Minister of India is the leader of the executive of the Government of India. The prime minister is also the chief adviser to the President of India and head of the Council of Ministers. They can be a member of any of the two houses of the Parliament of India—the Lok Sabha (House of the People) and the Rajya Sabha (Council of the States)—but has to be a member of the political party or coalition, having a majority in the Lok Sabha.
List of Presidents of India
There have been 14 Presidents of India since the post was established when India was declared as a republic with the adoption of the Indian constitution in 1950. Apart from these fourteen, three Acting Presidents have also been in office for short periods of time. Varahagiri Venkata Giri became the Acting President in 1969 after Zakir Husain, died in office. Giri was elected President a few months later. He remains the only person to have held office both as a President and Acting President. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, is the only person to have held office for two terms.
Seven Presidents have been members of a political party before being elected. Six of these were active party members of the Indian National Congress. The Janata Party has had one member, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, who later became President. Two Presidents, Zakir Husain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, have died in office. Their Vice-Presidents served as Acting Presidents until a new President was elected. Following Zakir Husain's death, two acting Presidents held office until the new President, V. V. Giri, was elected. When Giri resigned to take part in the presidential elections, he was succeeded by Mohammad Hidayatullah as acting President. The 12th President, Pratibha Patil, is the first woman to serve as President of India, elected in 2007.