Deputy Prime Minister of India
The deputy prime minister of India (IAST: Bhārat Ke Upapradhānamantri) is the second-highest ranking minister of the Union in the executive branch of the Government of India and is a senior member of the Union Council of Ministers. The office holder also deputises for the prime minister in their absence.
| Deputy Prime Minister of India | |
|---|---|
| Bhārat Ke Upapradhānamantri | |
Incumbent Vacant since 23 May 2004 | |
| Government of India | |
| Style |
|
| Type | Deputy Head of government |
| Status | Deputy Leader of the Executive |
| Member of | Parliament of India Union Council of Ministers |
| Reports to | |
| Nominator | Prime Minister of India |
| Appointer | President of India |
| Formation | 15 August 1947 |
| First holder | Vallabhbhai Patel |
The office has since been only intermittently occupied, having been occupied for a little more than 10 years out of the 75 years since its inception. Since 1947 India has had 7 deputy prime ministers, of which none having at least one full term. The first was Vallabhbhai Patel of the Indian National Congress party, who was sworn in on 15 August 1947, when India gained independence from the British Raj. Serving until his death in December 1950, Patel remains India's longest-serving deputy prime minister. The post was vacant until Morarji Desai became the second deputy prime minister in 1967 and has the second-longest tenure. Morarji Desai and Charan Singh were the deputy prime ministers who later became Prime Minister of India. Jagjivan Ram and Yashwantrao Chavan became deputy prime ministers consecutively without the break in different ministries. Devi Lal is the only deputy prime minister to represent both parties in the same post. Lal Krishna Advani was the seventh and last person to serve as the deputy prime minister of India until the post became vacant.
The current government does not have a deputy prime minister and the post has been vacant since 23 May 2004.
List
- Key
- No.: Incumbent number
- † Assassinated or died in office
- § Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term
- RES Resigned
| BJP (1) INC (2) INC(U) (1) JD (1) JP (2) SJP(R) (1) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Elected Constituency | Term of office[1] | Lok Sabha (Election) | Prime Minister | Appointed by | Political Party[a] | ||||
| Assumed Office | Left Office | Time in Office | ||||||||||
| 1 | Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950) | Constituent Assembly member for United Provinces | 15 August 1947 | 15 December 1950[†] | 3 years, 122 days | Constituent Assembly[b] | Jawaharlal Nehru | Rajendra Prasad | Indian National Congress | |||
| Vacant (16 December 1950 – 12 March 1967) | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Morarji Desai (1896–1995) | Surat | 13 March 1967 | 19 July 1969[RES] | 2 years, 128 days | 4th (1967 election) | Indira Gandhi | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | Indian National Congress | |||
| Vacant (20 July 1969 – 23 January 1979) | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Charan Singh (1902–1987) | Baghpat | 24 January 1979 | 16 July 1979[RES] | 173 days | 6th (1977 election) | Morarji Desai | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Janata Party | |||
| 4 | Jagjivan Ram (1908–1986) | Sasaram | 28 July 1979[RES] | 185 days | ||||||||
| 5 | Yashwantrao Chavan (1913–1984) | Satara | 28 July 1979 | 14 January 1980 | 170 days | Charan Singh | Indian National Congress (U) | |||||
| Vacant (15 January 1980 – 1 December 1989) | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Devi Lal (1915–2001) | Rohtak and Sikar | 2 December 1989 | 1 August 1990[RES] | 242 days | 9th (1989 election) | Vishwanath Pratap Singh | R. Venkataraman | Janata Dal | |||
| Vacant (2 August 1990 – 9 November 1990) | ||||||||||||
| (6) | Devi Lal (1915–2001) | Rohtak and Sikar | 10 November 1990 | 21 June 1991[RES] | 223 days | 9th (1989 election) | Chandra Shekhar | R. Venkataraman | Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) | |||
| Vacant (22 June 1991 – 28 June 2002) | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Lal Krishna Advani (1927–) | Gandhinagar | 29 June 2002 | 22 May 2004 | 1 year, 328 days | 13th (1999 election) | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | K. R. Narayanan | Bharatiya Janata Party | |||
| Vacant (Since 23 May 2004) | ||||||||||||
Statistics
- List of deputy prime ministers by length of term
| No. | Name | Party | Length of term | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longest continuous term | Total years of deputy premiership | ||||
| 1 | Vallabhbhai Patel | INC | 3 years, 122 days | 3 years, 122 days | |
| 2 | Morarji Desai | INC | 2 years, 128 days | 2 years, 128 days | |
| 3 | Lal Krishna Advani | BJP | 1 year, 328 days | 1 year, 328 days | |
| 4 | Devi Lal | JD/SJP(R) | 242 days | 1 year, 100 days | |
| 5 | Jagjivan Ram | JP | 185 days | 185 days | |
| 6 | Charan Singh | JP | 173 days | 173 days | |
| 7 | Yashwantrao Chavan | INC(U) | 170 days | 170 days | |
- Timeline
- List by party
| No. | Political party | Number of Deputy prime ministers | Total days of holding DPMO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indian National Congress | 2 | 2077 days |
| 2 | Bharatiya Janata Party | 1 | 693 days |
| 3 | Janata Party | 2 | 358 days |
| 4 | Janata Dal | 1 | 242 days |
| 5 | Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) | 1 | 223 days |
| 6 | Indian National Congress (U) | 1 | 170 days |
- Parties by total duration (in days) of holding Deputy Prime Minister's Office
See also
Notes
- ^ This column only names the deputy prime minister's party. The central government he heads with prime minister may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
- ^ The Constituent Assembly of India consisted of 389 members elected in 1946 by the provincial assemblies by a single, transferable-vote system of proportional representation. The Assembly was replaced by the Provisional Parliament of India after adoption of the Constitution on 26 January 1950 until the first general elections.
References
- ^ The ordinal number of the term being served by the person specified in the row in the corresponding period