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List of prime ministers of India facts for kids

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The prime minister of India is the main leader of the Government of India. They are like the chief manager of the country. While the president of India is the official head of state, the prime minister and their team (called the Council of Ministers) hold most of the power.

The prime minister is usually the leader of the political party that wins the most seats in the Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha is the main law-making body in India. The prime minister and their cabinet are always answerable to the Lok Sabha. 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 centre: 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 serve a full 5-year term.
  • Bottom centre: Manmohan Singh was the first prime minister from a minority religion.
  • Bottom right: Narendra Modi is the only prime minister born in independent India. He is also 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 held every five years.

The prime minister leads the Council of Ministers. They decide who joins the council and what jobs they get. This council helps the president with their duties. Their advice is very important and must be followed.

India's Prime Ministers: A Journey Through Time

Since 1947, India has had 14 prime ministers. Each one has played a big part in shaping the country.

The First Leaders

Jawaharlal Nehru was India's very first prime minister. He started serving on August 15, 1947, when India became independent. He led the country until he passed away in May 1964. Nehru was prime minister for a long time, over 16 years.

After Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri became prime minister. His term was short, lasting about one year and seven months. He passed away in Tashkent after signing an important agreement.

India's First Woman Prime Minister

In 1966, Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter, became India's first woman prime minister. She led the country for many years. In 1977, her party, the Indian National Congress, lost the election.

Morarji Desai then became the first prime minister who was not from the Congress party. He resigned in 1979. After him, Charan Singh briefly held the office.

Indira Gandhi returned as prime minister in 1980. Her second term ended in 1984 when she was sadly assassinated.

Younger Leaders and New Parties

Indira Gandhi's son, Rajiv Gandhi, became India's youngest prime minister after her. Members of the Nehru–Gandhi family have served as prime minister for about 38 years in total.

After Rajiv Gandhi's term, Vishwanath Pratap Singh formed a government in 1989. Then, Chandra Shekhar served for a short time.

In 1991, P. V. Narasimha Rao became prime minister. His five-year term was followed by a time of quick changes.

Short Terms and a Full Term

Atal Bihari Vajpayee from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) served for only 13 days in 1996. Then, H. D. Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral each served for about a year.

Vajpayee returned as prime minister in 1998. In 1999, his party alliance won the election. He then became the first non-Congress prime minister to complete a full five-year term.

Recent Prime Ministers

From 2004 to 2014, Manmohan Singh served as prime minister. He was from the Congress party.

In 2014, the BJP won the election. Narendra Modi became prime minister. His party won again in 2019, giving him a second term. After the 2024 election, Modi became prime minister for a third time. He now leads a government with other parties, as the BJP did not win enough seats on its own.

List of Prime Ministers of India

This table shows the leaders who have served as prime minister of India.

Key
  • No.: The number of the prime minister
  • Assassinated or died in office
  • Returned to office after serving before
  • Resigned (stepped down)
  • Resigned after a no-confidence motion (parliament no longer supported them)
  • Dismissed by the Head of State (President)
Portrait Name
(born – died)
Constituency
Age when assumed office Term of office & elections
Duration in years and days
Concurrent ministerial positions Party Government Head of State
(Tenure)
Jawaharlal Nehru, 1947.jpg Jawaharlal Nehru
(1889–1964)
MP for United Provinces
(Constituent Assembly, 1947-1952)
MP for Phulpur (1952-1964)
57 years 274 days 15 August

1947

27 May
1964
16 years 286 days
Indian National Congress Nehru I King George VI
(1947–1950)
Rajendra Prasad
(1950–1962)
1951–52 Nehru II
1957 Nehru III
1962 Nehru IV Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
(1962–1967)
Gulzarilal Nanda 1.jpg Gulzarilal Nanda
(1898–1998)
MP for Sabarkantha
65 years, 328 days 27 May
1964
9 June
1964
13 days Nanda I
Lal Bahadur Shastri (from stamp).jpg Lal Bahadur Shastri
(1904–1966)
MP for Allahabad
59 years

251 days

9 June
1964
11 January
1966
1 year, 216 days Shastri
Gulzarilal Nanda 1.jpg Gulzarilal Nanda
(1898–1998)
MP for Sabarkantha
67 years, 191 days 11 January
1966
24 January
1966
13 days
Nanda II
Indira Gandhi official portrait.png Indira Gandhi
(1917–1984)
MP for Uttar Pradesh
(Rajya Sabha, 1966–1967)
MP for Rae Bareli (1967–1977)
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 Indira III
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
(1974–1977)
B. D. Jatti
(1977)
(Acting)
Morarji Desai During his visit to the United States of America (cropped).jpg 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)
Charan Singh Portrait.jpg Charan Singh
(1902–1987)
MP for Baghpat
76 years, 217 days 28 July
1979
14 January
1980
170 days None Janata Party Charan
Indira Gandhi official portrait.png 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 Indira IV
Giani Zail Singh (1982-1987)
RajivGandhi.jpg 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)
Visit of Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Indian Minister for Trade, to the CEC (cropped).jpg Vishwanath Pratap Singh
(1931–2008)
MP for Fatehpur
58 years, 160 days 2 December
1989
10 November
1990
343 days 1989
Janata Dal Vishwanath
Chandra Shekhar Singh.jpg Chandra Shekhar
(1927–2007)
MP for Ballia
63 years, 207 days 10 November
1990
21 June
1991
223 days Samajwadi Janata Party Chandra Shekhar
Visit of Narasimha Rao, Indian Minister for Foreign Affairs, to the CEC (cropped)(2).jpg 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 Rao
Shankar Dayal Sharma
(1992–1997)
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (crop 2).jpg Atal Bihari Vajpayee
(1924–2018)
MP for Lucknow
71 years, 143 days 16 May
1996
1 June
1996
16 days 1996
  • Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
  • Ministry of Textiles
  • Minister of Commerce and Industry
Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee I
H. D. Deve Gowda.jpg H. D. Deve Gowda
(born 1933)
MP for Karnataka (Rajya Sabha)
63 years, 14 days 1 June
1996
21 April
1997
324 days
  • Minister of Home Affairs (1996)
  • Minister of Agriculture (1996)
  • Minister of Textiles (1996)
  • Minister of Urban Development (1996–1997)
Janata Dal
(United Front)
Deve Gowda
Inder Kumar Gujral.jpg Inder Kumar Gujral
(1919–2012)
MP for Bihar (Rajya Sabha)
77 years, 138 days 21 April
1997
19 March
1998
332 days
Gujral
K. R. Narayanan
(1997–2002)
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (crop 2).jpg Atal Bihari Vajpayee
(1924–2018)
MP for Lucknow
73 years, 84 days 19 March
1998
22 May
2004
6 years, 64 days 1998
  • Minister of External Affairs (1998)
  • Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Communications and Information Technology (1998)
  • Minister of Non Conventional Energy Sources (1998–1999)
  • Minister of Coal and Mines (2002)
  • Minister of Environment and Forests (2003–2004)
Bharatiya Janata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)
Vajpayee II
1999 Vajpayee III
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
(2002–2007)
Official Portrait of the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh (3x4 cropped).jpg Manmohan Singh
(1932–2024)
MP for Assam (Rajya Sabha)
71 years, 239 days 22 May
2004
26 May
2014
10 years, 4 days 2004
  • Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
  • Minister in-charge of:
    • Department of Atomic Energy
    • Department of Space
    • Minister of External Affairs (2005–2006)
    • Minister of Finance (2008–2009, 2012)
    • Minister of Culture (2009–2011)
Indian National Congress
(United Progressive Alliance)
Manmohan I
Pratibha Patil
(2007–2012)
2009 Manmohan II
Pranab Mukherjee
(2012–2017)
Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India (3x4 cropped).jpg Narendra Modi
(born 1950)
MP for Varanasi
63 years, 251 days 26 May
2014
Incumbent 11 years, 65 days 2014
  • Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
  • Minister in-charge of:
    • Department of Atomic Energy
    • Department of Space
    • Minister of Science and Technology, Earth Sciences (2014)
Bharatiya Janata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)
Modi I
Ram Nath Kovind
(2017–2022)
2019 Modi II
Droupadi Murmu
(2022–present)
2024 Modi III

Prime Ministers by Time in Office

This table shows how long each prime minister has served.

Name Party Length of term
Longest continuous term Total years of premiership
Nehru, JawaharlalJawaharlal Nehru INC 16 years, 286 days 16 years, 286 days
Gandhi, IndiraIndira Gandhi INC/INC(I)/INC(R) 11 years, 59 days 15 years, 350 days
Modi, NarendraNarendra Modi BJP 11 years, 65 days 11 years, 65 days
Singh, ManmohanManmohan Singh INC 10 years, 4 days 10 years, 4 days
Vajpayee, Atal BihariAtal Bihari Vajpayee BJP 6 years, 64 days 6 years, 80 days
Gandhi, RajivRajiv Gandhi INC(I) 5 years, 32 days 5 years, 32 days
Rao, P. V. NarasimhaP. V. Narasimha Rao INC(I) 4 years, 330 days 4 years, 330 days
Desai, MorarjiMorarji Desai JP 2 years, 126 days 2 years, 126 days
Shastri, Lal BahadurLal Bahadur Shastri INC 1 year, 216 days 1 year, 216 days
Singh, Vishwanath PratapVishwanath Pratap Singh JD 343 days 343 days
Gujral, Inder KumarInder Kumar Gujral JD 332 days 332 days
Deve Gowda, H. D.H. D. Deve Gowda JD 324 days 324 days
Shekhar, ChandraChandra Shekhar SJP(R) 223 days 223 days
Singh, CharanCharan Singh JP(S) 170 days 170 days
Nanda, GulzarilalGulzarilal Nanda INC 13 days 26 days

Timeline of Prime Ministers

Narendra Modi Manmohan Singh Inder Kumar Gujral H. D. Deve Gowda Atal Bihari Vajpayee P. V. Narasimha Rao Chandra Shekhar V. P. Singh Rajiv Gandhi Charan Singh Morarji Desai Indira Gandhi Lal Bahadur Shastri Gulzarilal Nanda Jawaharlal Nehru

Political Parties and Prime Ministers

This section shows which political parties have held the Prime Minister's Office and for how long.

Fraction of time of holding PMO by party (as of August 2025)      Indian National Congress (69.81%)     Bharatiya Janata Party (22.17%)     Janata Dal (3.50%)     Janata Party (3.06%)     Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) (0.78%)     Janata Party (Secular) (0.59%)

Political parties by total timespan of their member holding PMO (as of 30 July 2025)
No. Political party Number of Prime ministers Total years of holding PMO
1 INC/INC(I)/INC(R) 7 54 years, 166 days
2 BJP 2 17 years, 145 days
3 JD 3 2 years, 269 days
4 JP 1 2 years, 126 days
5 SJP(R) 1 223 days
6 JP(S) 1 170 days

How Long Each Party Held Power

10
20
30
40
50
60
INC
BJP
JD
JP
JP(S)
SJP(R)

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