List of prime ministers of India facts for kids

The prime minister of India is like the main leader of the Government of India. Think of them as the captain of a big team called the Union Council of Ministers. While the president of India is the official head of the country, the prime minister is the one who actually makes most of the important decisions and leads the government every day.

The prime minister is usually the leader of the political party that wins the most seats in the Lok Sabha, which is the main law-making part of India's parliament. The prime minister and their team of ministers are always responsible to the Lok Sabha. This means they have to answer to the elected representatives of the people. A prime minister can be a member of either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, which is the upper house of parliament.

• Top left: Jawaharlal Nehru was India's first and longest-serving prime minister.
• Top center: Indira Gandhi was the first and only woman prime minister.
• Top right: Charan Singh was the only prime minister who never faced parliament.
• Bottom left: Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first non-Congress prime minister to finish a full 5-year term.
• Bottom center: Manmohan Singh was the first prime minister from a minority religion.
• Bottom right: Narendra Modi is the only prime minister born in independent India and is the longest-serving non-Congress prime minister.

The president of India chooses the prime minister. However, the prime minister must have the support of most members in the Lok Sabha. These members are chosen by people in elections every five years. The prime minister leads the Council of Ministers, who help the government run smoothly. The prime minister decides who joins this council and what jobs they get.

Since India became independent in 1947, it has had 14 prime ministers. Jawaharlal Nehru was the very first prime minister. He served from 1947 until he passed away in 1964. After him, Lal Bahadur Shastri became prime minister, but his term ended sadly when he died in 1966.

Then, Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter, became India's first female prime minister in 1966. She served for many years. Later, Morarji Desai became the first prime minister who was not from the Indian National Congress party. After him, Charan Singh briefly held the office. Indira Gandhi returned as prime minister in 1980 and served until she was assassinated in 1984. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi, then became the youngest prime minister of India.

After Rajiv Gandhi's term, Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Chandra Shekhar served shorter terms. In 1991, P. V. Narasimha Rao became prime minister. After his term, there were a few short governments, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee for a short time in 1996.

Vajpayee returned as prime minister in 1998 and completed a full five-year term, leading the National Democratic Alliance. From 2004 to 2014, Manmohan Singh served as prime minister. In 2014, Narendra Modi and his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), won the election. He became prime minister again in 2019 and for a third time in 2024, becoming only the second prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to serve three terms.

India's Prime Ministers: A List

Here is a list of all the prime ministers of India.

No.		Portrait	Name (born – died) Constituency	Age when assumed office	Term of office & elections Duration in years and days				Party	Government	Head of State (Tenure)
1			Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) MP for Phulpur	57 years, 274 days	15 August 1947	27 May 1964	16 years, 286 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru I	George VI (1947–1950)
										Rajendra Prasad (1950–1962)
									1951–52		Nehru II
									1957		Nehru III
									1962	Nehru IV	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1962–1967)
Acting			Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) MP for Sabarkantha	65 years, 328 days	27 May 1964	9 June 1964	13 days		Nanda I
2			Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904–1966) MP for Allahabad	62 years, 250 days	9 June 1964	11 January 1966	1 year, 216 days		Shastri
Acting			Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) MP for Sabarkantha	67 years, 191 days	11 January 1966	24 January 1966	13 days		Nanda II
3			Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Rae Bareli	48 years, 66 days	24 January 1966	24 March 1977	11 years, 59 days		Indira I
									1967	Indira II	Zakir Husain (1967–1969)
											V. V. Giri (1969) (Acting)
											Mohammad Hidayatullah (1969) (Acting)
											V. V. Giri (1969–1974)
								1971	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III
											Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1974–1977)
											B. D. Jatti (1977) (Acting)
4			Morarji Desai (1896–1995) MP for Surat	81 years, 24 days	24 March 1977	28 July 1979	2 years, 126 days	1977	Janata Party	Desai
											Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (1977–1982)
5			Charan Singh (1902–1987) MP for Baghpat	76 years, 217 days	28 July 1979	14 January 1980	170 days	Janata Party (Secular)	Charan
(3)			Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Medak	62 years, 56 days	14 January 1980	31 October 1984	4 years, 291 days	1980	Indian National Congress (I)	Indira IV
											Zail Singh (1982–1987)
6			Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991) MP for Amethi	40 years, 72 days	31 October 1984	2 December 1989	5 years, 32 days	Rajiv I
								1984		Rajiv II	Ramaswamy Venkataraman (1987–1992)
7			Vishwanath Pratap Singh (1931–2008) MP for Fatehpur	58 years, 160 days	2 December 1989	10 November 1990	343 days	1989	Janata Dal	Vishwanath
8			Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007) MP for Ballia	63 years, 207 days	10 November 1990	21 June 1991	223 days	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	Chandra Shekhar
9			P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Nandyal	69 years, 358 days	21 June 1991	16 May 1996	4 years, 330 days	1991	Indian National Congress (I)	Rao
											Shankar Dayal Sharma (1992–1997)
10			Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for Lucknow	71 years, 143 days	16 May 1996	1 June 1996	16 days	1996	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee I
11			H. D. Deve Gowda (born 1933) MP for Karnataka (Rajya Sabha)	63 years, 14 days	1 June 1996	21 April 1997	324 days	Janata Dal (United Front)	Deve Gowda
12			Inder Kumar Gujral (1919–2012) MP for Bihar (Rajya Sabha)	77 years, 138 days	21 April 1997	19 March 1998	332 days	Janata Dal (United Front)	Gujral
										K. R. Narayanan (1997–2002)
(10)			Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for Lucknow	73 years, 84 days	19 March 1998	22 May 2004	6 years, 64 days	1998	Bharatiya Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance)		Vajpayee II
								1999			Vajpayee III
										A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (2002–2007)
13			Manmohan Singh (1932–2024) MP for Assam (Rajya Sabha)	71 years, 239 days	22 May 2004	26 May 2014	10 years, 4 days	2004	Indian National Congress (United Progressive Alliance)		Manmohan I
										Pratibha Patil (2007–2012)
								2009			Manmohan II
										Pranab Mukherjee (2012–2017)
14			Narendra Modi (born 1950) MP for Varanasi	63 years, 251 days	26 May 2014	Incumbent	11 years, 44 days	2014	Bharatiya Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance)		Modi I
										Ram Nath Kovind (2017–2022)
								2019			Modi II
										Droupadi Murmu (2022–present)
								2024			Modi III

How Long Did They Serve?

This table shows how long each prime minister served in office.

Timeline of Prime Ministers

Prime Ministers and Their Parties

This section shows how much time each political party has held the Prime Minister's Office.

Parties by total duration (in years) of holding Prime Minister's Office

See also

• Prime minister of India
• President of India
• List of presidents of India
• List of deputy prime ministers of India