Deputy Prime Minister of India

The deputy prime minister of the Republic of India (IAST: Bhārat Gaṇarājya ke Upapradhānamantrī) is the deputy leader of the executive branch of the federal government of India. The deputy prime minister is the second most senior minister of the Union and chairs meetings of the Council of Ministers in the absence of the prime minister.

Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of India
Bhārat Gaṇarājya ke Upapradhānamantrī
State Emblem of India
Flag of India
Incumbent
Vacant
since 23 May 2004
StyleHis/Her Excellency
TypeDeputy prime minister
Status2nd highest in executive branch
Member ofParliament of India
Union Council of Ministers
NominatorPrime Minister of India
AppointerPresident of India
Inaugural holderSardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Formation15 August 1947 (1947-08-15)

The office has since been only intermittently occupied, having been occupied for a little more than 10 years out of the 73 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 Sardar 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 Chaudhary Charan Singh were the deputy prime ministers who later became Prime Minister of India. Babu Jagjivan Ram and Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan became deputy prime ministers consecutively without the break in different ministries. Chaudhary 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
  • NC Resigned following a no-confidence motion
  BJP   (1)   INC   (2)   INC(U)   (1)    JD   (1)   JP   (2)   SJP(R)   (1)
No. Portrait Name

(Birth–Death)

 Elected Constituency Political Party[lower-alpha 1] Term of office[1] Prime Minister Appointed by
Assumed Office Left Office Time in Office
1 Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
(1875–1950)		 Did not contest Indian National Congress 15 August 1947 15 December 1950[†] 3 years, 122 days Jawaharlal Nehru Louis Mountbatten
Vacant (16 December 1950 – 12 March 1967)
2 Morarji Ranchhodji Desai
(1896–1995)		 Surat, Gujarat Indian National Congress 13 March 1967 19 July 1969[RES] 2 years, 128 days Indira Gandhi Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Vacant (20 July 1969 – 23 January 1979)
3 Chaudhary Charan Singh
(1902–1987)		 Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh Janata Party 24 January 1979 16 July 1979[RES] 173 days Morarji Desai Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy
4 Babu Jagjivan Ram
(1908–1986)		 Sasaram, Bihar Janata Party 24 January 1979 28 July 1979[RES] 185 days
5 Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan
(1913–1984)		 Satara, Maharashtra Indian National Congress (U) 28 July 1979 14 January 1980 170 days Charan Singh
Vacant (15 January 1980 – 1 December 1989)
6 Chaudhary Devi Lal
(1915–2001)		 Rohtak, Haryana
and
Sikar, Rajasthan		 Janata Dal 2 December 1989 1 August 1990 242 days Vishwanath Pratap Singh Ramaswamy Venkataraman
Vacant (2 August 1990 – 9 November 1990)
(6) Chaudhary Devi Lal
(1915–2001)		 Rohtak, Haryana
and
Sikar, Rajasthan		 Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) 10 November 1990 21 June 1991 223 days Chandra Shekhar Ramaswamy Venkataraman
Vacant (22 June 1991 – 28 June 2002)
7 Lal Krishna Advani
(1927–)		 Gandhinagar, Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party 29 June 2002 22 May 2004 1 year, 328 days Atal Bihari Vajpayee K. R. Narayanan
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
Lal Krishna AdvaniDevi LalDevi LalYashwantrao ChavanJagjivan RamCharan SinghMorarji DesaiVallabhbhai Patel
List by party
Political parties by total timespan of their member holding Deputy Prime Minister's Office (2 May 2022)
No. Political party Number of Deputy prime ministers Total days of holding DPMO
1 INC 2 2077 days
2 BJP 1 693 days
3 JP 2 358 days
4 JD 1 242 days
5 SJP(R) 1 223 days
6 INC(U) 1 170 days
Parties by total duration (in days) of holding Deputy Prime Minister's Office
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
INC
BJP
JP
JD
SJP(R)
INC(U)

Living former deputy prime ministers

As of 2 May 2022, there is only one living former deputy prime minister of India:

  • Living former deputy prime ministers
  • Lal Krishna Advani
    (2002–2004)
    (1927-11-08) 8 November 1927

See also

Notes
  1. 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.

References
  1. The ordinal number of the term being served by the person specified in the row in the corresponding period
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