Presidents of India -interesting facts

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy – Many FIRSTS

Sixth President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, who was directly elected to the post of President from Lok Sabha Speaker, had created many records. (He was Speaker of Lok Sabha twice à 1967 and 1977)

Sanjiva Reddy was not only the first President elected during the non-Congress Janata regime in July 1977, but was also the only person to get election unopposed, after being unanimously sponsored by all parties, including the Congress alliance. The poll was held just a few months after the Emergency was lifted.

He was the youngest to occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan (65 years old, when he took charge)

ü      K.R. Narayanan  (77)

ü      Rajendra Prasad (66)

ü      Zail Singh (66)

ü      F A Ahmed (69)

ü      Zakir Hussain (70)

ü      APJ (71)

ü      Radhakrishnan, S D Sharma (74)

ü      VV Giri (75)

ü      Patil (73)

He was the only serious contender for the post of President, who contested twice. He fought against Giri in August 1969 and in the 1977 election.

Presidents of India – a look:-

#	President	Tenure	Other Notes
1	Dr Rajendra Prasad	Jan 26, 1950 – May 13, 1962	Longest tenure Two times
2	Dr S Radhakrishnan	May 13, 1962 – May 13, 1967	I Bharat Ratna Winner
3	Dr Zakir Hussain	May 13, 1967 – May 03, 1969	Died during term
	V V Giri	May 03, 1969 – Jul 20, 1969	Acting President
	Justice M Hidayatullah	Jul 20, 1969 – Aug 24, 1969	Acting President
4	V V Giri	Aug 24, 1969 – Aug 24, 1974
5	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed	Aug 24, 1974 – Feb 11, 1979	Died during term
	B D Jatti	Feb 11, 1977 – Jul 25, 1977	Acting President
6	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy	Jul 25, 1977 – Jul 25, 1982	Unopposed Candidate
7	Giani Zail Singh	Jul 25, 1982 – Jul 25, 1987
	Justice M Hidayatullah	Oct 06, 1982 – Oct 31, 1982	Discharged the functions of President
8	R Venkataraman	Jul 25, 1987 – Jul 25, 1992	I Finance Minister to become President
9	Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma	Jul 25, 1992 – Jul 25, 1997
10	K R Narayanan	Jul 25, 1997 – Jul 25, 2002	I Dalit
11	APJ Abdul Kalam	Jul 25, 2002 – Jul 25, 2007	I Scientist
12	Pratibha Patil	Jul 25, 2007 – Jul 25, 2012	I Women
13	Pranab Mukherjee	Jul 25, 2012 -	II Finance Minister to become President

Some Trivia’s:-

       Historically, the ruling party's Presidential nominees have been elected.

      Dr Rajendra Prasad is the only President to have served two consecutive terms.

      In 1969, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi got VV Giri elected instead of official Congress nominee Neelam Sanjiva Reddy by urging members to vote according to their conscience.

      Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was the only President in history to have won uncontested.

      The only two Presidents who have polled more than nine lakh votes are KR Narayanan and APJ Abdul Kalam.

      KR Narayanan with 956290 votes and APJ Abdul Kalam with 922884 votes hold the top two positions, respectively, for the highest number of votes polled in a Presidential election till date.

      Between 1987 and 1992, President Venkataraman presided over the change from the one-party era to coalitions and worked with 4 Prime Ministers - Rajiv Gandhi, VP Singh, Chandrashekhar and PV Narasimha Rao

      President of India used to receive a salary of Rs 10,000 per month which was increased to Rs 50,000 in 1998 and further revised to Rs 1.5 lakh in 2008.

      Rashtrapati Bhawan, the official residence of the President, has 340 rooms and is the largest Presidential Palace in the world.

      Voting in the Presidential poll is done through secret ballot.

      Party whip is not applicable in Presidential election.

      Only K.R. Narayanan, secured the maximum value votes of 9, 56, 290 (94.97%) when he won in 1997 election against T.N. Seshan

      The outgoing President Ms. Pratibha Patil secures 65.82% and her opponent Shekhawat polled 33.18%.

      Anti-defection law cannot be used in a Presidential election even if a member acknowledges that he or she had voted against the party whip.

      Cross-voting can be inferred if a nominee receives less or more votes but individual members' choice cannot be inferred.

      One should not hold an office of profit while running for President, but a minister's post is not considered an office of profit and therefore a minister need not resign while filing nomination.

About the Presidents of India:-

#	President	Home State	Trivia
1	Dr Rajendra Prasad	Bihar	An independence activist
2	Dr S Radhakrishnan	Tamil Nadu	Philosopher, writer, Knight of the Realm; made a Knight of the Golden Army of Angels by Pope Paul VI; Vice chancellor of Andhra Univ, Banaras Hindu Uinv
3	Dr Zakir Hussain	Andhra Pradesh	Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim Univ; died before his term
4	V V Giri	Andhra Pradesh	Only person to have served as both an acting President and President; Functioned as Indian Minister of Labour and High Commissioner to Sri Lanka
5	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed	Delhi	Second President to die before the term ends
6	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy	Andhra Pradesh	I CM of Andhra; I MP from the Janata party in Andhra; Unanimously elected for President
7	Giani Zail Singh	Punjab	CM of Punjab and a former Union Minister
8	R Venkataraman	Tamil Nadu	Independence activist; Minster of Finance, Labour, Defence
9	Dr. S D Sharma	Madhya Pradesh	CM of Madhya Pradesh;
10	K R Narayanan	Kerala	India’s ambassador to Thailand, Turkey, China and USA; Vice chancellor of JNU
11	APJ Abdul Kalam	Tamil Nadu	People’s President
12	Pratibha Patil	Maharashtra	I woman; I female governor of Rajasthan
13	Pranab Mukherjee	West Bengal	I from West Bengal

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