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, 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 either house of Parliament, or be elected within six months. There have been twelve people who have served as Prime Minister 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) and Atal Behari Vajpayee served on two separate occasions (1996, 1998-2004). 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 post. He was sworn in on May 22,2004. Singh, a member of the Sikh faith, is the first non-Hindu Prime Minister of India. The official residence of the Prime Minister of India is 7 Race Course Road.

List of Prime Ministers of India

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Key:	INC Indian National Congress	JP Janata Party	JD Janata Dal	BJP Bharatiya Janata Party

bgcolor="#d3d3d3" >01 >Jawaharlal Nehru >Aug 15, 1947 >May 27, 1964 bgcolor="#e4e8ff" |

| Gulzari Lal Nanda | May 27, 1964 | Jun 09, 1964 | Indian National Congress bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | 02 | Lal Bahadur Shastri bgcolor="#e4e8ff" |

| Gulzari Lal Nanda | Jan 11, 1966 | Jan 24, 1966 | Indian National Congress bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | 03 | Indira Gandhi bgcolor="#ddffdd" | 04 | Morarji Desai bgcolor="#ddffdd" | 05 | Choudhary Charan Singh bgcolor="#e4e8ff" |

• *

| Indira Gandhi bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | 06 | Rajiv Gandhi bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 07 | Vishwanath Pratap Singh bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 08 | Chandra Shekhar bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | 09 | P. V. Narasimha Rao bgcolor="#ffeecc" | 10 | Atal Behari Vajpayee bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 11 | H. D. Deve Gowda bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 12 | Inder Kumar Gujral bgcolor="#ffeecc" |

• *

| Atal Behari Vajpayee bgcolor="#e4e8ff" | 13 | Dr. Manmohan Singh | May 22, 2004 | In Office | Congress I

- bgcolor="#e4e8ff"	Indian National Congress
Jun 09, 1964	Jan 11, 1966	Indian National Congress
Jan 24, 1966	Mar 24, 1977	Indian National Congress
Mar 24, 1977	Jul 28, 1979	Janata Party
Jul 28, 1979	Jan 14, 1980	Janata Party
Jan 14, 1980	Oct 31, 1984	Indian National Congress
Oct 31, 1984	Dec 02, 1989	Congress I **
Dec 02, 1989	Nov 10, 1990	Janata Dal
Nov 10, 1990	Jun 21, 1991	Janata Dal
Jun 21, 1991	May 16, 1996	Congress I
May 16, 1996	Jun 01, 1996	Bharatiya Janata Party
Jun 01, 1996	Apr 21, 1997	Janata Dal
Apr 21, 1997	Mar 19, 1998	Janata Dal
Mar 19, 1998	May 22, 2004	Bharatiya Janata Party

align="center"

Key:	INC Indian National Congress	JP Janata Party	JD Janata Dal	BJP Bharatiya Janata Party

• acting
  

• * resumed office
  

• ** Indian National Congress became Congress I ( I for Indira)

External link

• Office of the Prime Minister

India, Prime Minister of Category:Government of India

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