Presidents of India: 15 interesting facts

NEW DELHI: Droupadi Murmu will be taking over as India’s 15th President on July 25. Murmu’s victory marks several firsts. She will be the first President born in Independent India. At 64, Murmu will also be the youngest occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan, besides being the first tribal leader to hold the country’s top office.

Here’s a look at some interesting facts about the past Presidents of India:
* Rajendra Prasad was the first President of India. He is also the only President to have served two consecutive terms.
* Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the second President. He was the first to have served as Vice President before being elected to the top post.
* Zakir Hussain was the third President of India, and the first Muslim President. He also was the first President to die in office. He was the shortest serving President of India (less than two years).
* On his election, fourth President V.V. Giri became the first one to have also been an acting President.
* Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was the fifth President and the second Muslim to hold the post. The Emergency was declared during his tenure. He is the second President to have died in office.

* Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was the sixth President. He became the youngest to take the post at the age of 64. He is also the only one to have been elected unopposed.
* Giani Zail Singh was the seventh President of India and the first Sikh President.
* Eighth President Ramaswamy Venkataraman was the first President to have worked with four Prime Ministers and appointed three: V. P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar and P. V. Narasimha Rao.
* Shankar Dayal Sharma was the 9th President. He also worked with four PMs and appointed three of them in his last year: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, H. D. Deve Gowda
I. K. Gujral.
* Kocheril Raman Narayanan was the 10th President of India and the first Dalit President. At 76 years and 271 days, he was the oldest President to be elected.
* APJ Abdul Kalam was the 11th President and first Muslim President to serve an entire term.
* Elected as the 12th President, Pratibha Patil was the first woman President of India.
* Pranab Mukherjee, the 13th President, was the first Bengali to hold the post.

* 14th President Ram Nath Kovind was the first BJP candidate to be elected to the post.
* 11 Presidents have been members of a political party before being elected. 8 were from Congress, 2 from BJP, 1 from Janata Party, and the rest were Independents.
(With inputs from agencies)