The presidential election of 1977 was necessitated by the death in office of the incumbent Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. Although Prime Minister Morarji Desai wanted to nominate danseuse Rukmini Devi Arundale for the post, she turned down the offer. Reddy was elected unopposed, the only President to be elected thus, after being unanimously supported by all political parties including the opposition Congress party. At 64, he became the youngest ever person to be elected President of India. He was also the only serious presidential candidate to have contested twice – in 1969 against V V Giri and in 1977. 37 candidates had filed their nominations for the presidency of whom 36 were rejected by the returning officer.
Presidential election of 1977
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Presidential election of 1977
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Following these disqualifications, Reddy remained the only validly nominated candidate in the fray which made elections unnecessary. Reddy thus became the first person to be elected President of India without a contest and remains the only President to have been elected unopposed.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Presidential election of 1977
The presidential election of 1977 was necessitated by the death in office of the incumbent Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. Although Prime Minister Morarji Desai wanted to nominate danseuse Rukmini Devi Arundale for the post, she turned down the offer. Reddy was elected unopposed, the only President to be elected thus, after being unanimously supported by all political parties including the opposition Congress party. At 64, he became the youngest ever person to be elected President of India. He was also the only serious presidential candidate to have contested twice – in 1969 against V V Giri and in 1977. 37 candidates had filed their nominations for the presidency of whom 36 were rejected by the returning officer.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Presidential election of 1977
The Election Commission of India held indirect 7th presidential elections of India on August 6, 1977. Even though 37 candidates filed their nominations, 36 of them were rejected, leading to Neelam Sanjiva Reddy being the only President of India winning unopposed.
1977 Indian presidential election | Introduction
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was elected on 21 July 1977 and was sworn in as the sixth President of India on 25 July 1977. Reddy worked with three governments, with Prime Ministers Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Indira Gandhi. Reddy announced, on the eve of India's thirtieth anniversary of Independence, that he would be moving out of the Rashtrapati Bhawan to a smaller accommodation and that he would be taking a 70 percent pay cut in solidarity with India's impoverished masses.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | President of India
In 1969, following President Zakir Hussain's death, the Congress party nominated Reddy, a member of its Syndicate faction, as candidate for president although Prime Minister Indira Gandhi opposed him. She was forced to accept Reddy as the Congress party's official candidate and feared his election would allow the Syndicate to expel her from office. She asked Congress legislators to "vote according to their conscience" rather than blindly toe the Party line, in effect giving a call to support the independent candidate V V Giri. In a closely fought election held on 16 August 1969, V V Giri emerged victorious, winning 48.01 per cent of the first preference votes and subsequently getting a majority on counting the second preference votes.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Presidential election of 1969
In the final tally, Giri had votes against the quota of votes required to be elected president and Reddy had votes. The election led to much discord within the Congress Party and culminated in the historic split of 1969 and the subsequent rise of Indira Gandhi in Indian politics. Subsequently, Reddy, who had resigned as Speaker of the Lok Sabha to contest the election, retired from active politics and moved back to Anantapur where he took to farming.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Presidential election of 1969
In response to Jayaprakash Narayan's call for a Total Revolution, Reddy emerged from his political exile in 1975. In January 1977, he was made a member of the Committee of the Janata Party and in March, he fought the General Election from the Nandyal (Lok Sabha constituency) in Andhra Pradesh as a Janata Party candidate. He was the only non-Congress candidate to be elected from Andhra Pradesh. The Congress Party led by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was defeated, ending 30 years of Congress rule in India and a five party coalition with Morarji Desai as its leader came to power.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Return to active politics (1975–82)
Reddy was unanimously elected Speaker of the Sixth Lok Sabha on 26 March 1977. However he resigned a few months later to contest in the presidential elections of July 1977. Reddy's second term as Speaker lasted three months and 17 days and remains till date the shortest tenure for anyone to have held that post.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Return to active politics (1975–82)
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (19 May 1913 – 1 June 1996) was the sixth President of India, serving from 1977 to 1982. Beginning a long political career with the Indian National Congress Party in the Indian independence movement, he went on to hold several key offices in independent India—as the first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, a two-time Speaker of the Lok Sabha and a Union Minister—before becoming the youngest-ever Indian president. Born in present-day Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, Reddy completed his schooling at Adayar and joined the Government Arts College at Anantapur. He quit to become an Indian independence activist and was jailed for participating in the Quit India Movement.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Introduction
He was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1946 as a Congress party representative. Reddy became the deputy chief minister of Andhra State in 1953 and the first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1956. He was a union cabinet minister under Prime Ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi from 1964 to 1967 and Lok Sabha Speaker from 1967 to 1969. He later retired from active politics but returned in 1975, responding to Jayaprakash Narayan's call for "Total Revolution" against the Indira Gandhi Government. Elected to Parliament in 1977 as a candidate of the Janata Party, Reddy was unanimously elected Speaker of the Sixth Lok Sabha and three months later was elected unopposed as President of India.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Introduction
Pendekanti Venkatasubbaiah was an Indian politician. He was the Governor of Bihar from 15 March 1985 to 25 February 1988 and the Governor of Karnataka, India from 26 February 1988 to 5 February 1990. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Nandyal (Lok Sabha constituency) six times and was the Union Minister of State for Home and Parliamentary Affairs in both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi cabinet. P.V. Narasimha Rao was an Indian lawyer, politician, and activist who served as the ninth Prime Minister of India (1991–1996), registered his record-breaking victory in 1992 from Nandyal (Lok Sabha constituency). Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, the sixth President of India, serving from 1977 to 1982, and the only person to be elected President of India unopposed, fought the Lok Sabha election from Nandyal constituency as a Janata Party candidate.
Nandyal | Politics
Reddy was succeeded as president by Giani Zail Singh, who was sworn in on 25 July 1982. In his farewell address to the nation, Reddy criticised the failure of successive governments in improving the lives of the Indian masses and called for the emergence of a strong political opposition to prevent governmental misrule. Following his presidential term, the then Chief Minister of Karnataka Ramakrishna Hegde invited Reddy to settle down in Bangalore but he chose to retire to his farm in Anantapur. He died of pneumonia in Bangalore in 1996 at the age of 83. His "samadhi" is at Kalpally Burial Ground, Bangalore.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Later life and death
The election of a new president became a contest between the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the old guard of the Congress Party known as the Syndicate. The All India Congress Committee decided to support Neelam Sanjiva Reddy as the presidential candidate, disregarding the Prime Minister's opposition. Giri, who was vice president, resigned and decided to contest as an independent candidate. Prime Minister Gandhi then decided to support him, endorsing a "vote of conscience" that allowed Congress legislators to vote for Giri. The election, held on 16 August 1969, witnessed a contest between Reddy, Giri and the opposition candidate C D Deshmukh.
V. V. Giri | Presidential election of 1969
The Election Commission of India held indirect 5th presidential elections of India on August 1969. Varahagiri Venkata Giri with 420,077 votes won in a runoff election over his rival Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy who got 405,427 votes.
1969 Indian presidential election | Introduction
As president, Reddy worked with Prime Ministers Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Indira Gandhi. Reddy was succeeded by Giani Zail Singh in 1982 and he retired to his farm in Anantapur. He died in 1996 and his "samadhi" is at Kalpally Burial Ground, Bangalore. In 2013, the Government of Andhra Pradesh commemorated Reddy's birth centenary.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Introduction
M. Seervai. The faction of the Janata Party supporting Desai continued to have the support of 205 MPs as opposed to Charan Singh's 80 MPs. Reddy used presidential discretion in choosing Charan Singh as the next Prime Minister over a contending claim from Jagjivan Ram, the leader of the Janata Party.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Morarji Desai government (1977–79)
The Vice-President V V Giri announced that he would contest the presidential elections as an independent candidate. Mrs Gandhi knew that before she could support Giri against her own party's nominee, she would have to regain the initiative within the party. This she did first by forcing Morarji Desai out of the Cabinet and then by nationalizing banks. She also went ahead and filed the nomination for Sanjiva Reddy, though she refrained from issuing a whip to Congress MPs. The Syndicate realized that Mrs Gandhi might yet come out in support of Giri. Nijalingappa took a fatal misstep by approaching the main opposition parties, Swatantra and Jana Sangh, to cast their second preference vote for Reddy (the opposition's candidate was C D Deshmukh).
1969 Indian presidential election | Background
Congress (O) veteran and Janata candidate Neelam Sanjiva Reddy won the presidential election to become the 6th President of India on 25 July 1977. The results of its election defeat considerably weakened and diminished the Congress (R). Significant numbers of Congress (R) MPs and activists condemned Indira's leadership and left the party. As a result, MPs still loyal to Indira Gandhi renamed their party to Congress (I) – "I" standing for Indira. Although no longer an MP, Indira Gandhi continued as the president of Congress (I), which remained the largest opposition party.
Janata Party | Government formation
The Congress Parliamentary Board met on July 11, 1969, to discuss the presidential candidate. The Syndicate had already decided on nominating Sanjiva Reddy, whose affinity to them was well known. Mrs Gandhi was naturally loath to do so. At the meeting, she suggested nominating the veteran dalit leader, Jagjivan Ram. When this was shot down, she asked that they postpone a decision to allow more time for arriving at a consensus. Nijalingappa, however, forced a vote in the six-member Parliamentary Board. Mrs Gandhi was outvoted four to two. Even as a brooding Indira Gandhi left for Bangalore, a fresh opening presented itself.
1969 Indian presidential election | Background
The 1957 Indian vice presidential election was held on in 1957 to elect Vice-President of India. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was reelected unopposed. Should the election contested by more than one candidate, the poll would occurred on 11 May 1957.
1957 Indian vice presidential election | Introduction
He became only the second Dalit representative to become president after K. R. Narayanan, and also is the first BJP candidate to be elected to the post. The tally of votes (367,314) polled by Meira Kumar is only the second highest for a losing candidate, that of Neelam Sanjiva Reddy in the 1969 Presidential elections being the highest ever; he received 405,427 votes as against 420,077 by V V Giri, the winner.
Ram Nath Kovind | 2017 presidency campaign
The Election Commission of India held indirect 2nd presidential elections of India on May 6, 1957. Dr. Rajendra Prasad won his re-election with 459,698 votes over his rivals Chowdhry Hari Ram who got 2,672 votes and Nagendra Narayan Das who got 2,000 votes. Rajendra Prasad, has been the only person, to have won and served two terms, as President of India.
1957 Indian presidential election | Introduction
The 1979 Indian vice presidential election was held in mid-1979 to elect Vice-President of India. Former Chief Justice Mohammad Hidayatullah was elected unopposed for the post. Should the election contested by more than one candidate, it would be occurred on 27 August 1979.
1979 Indian vice presidential election | Introduction
Following Desai's resignation and the fall of the Janata government headed by him, Reddy appointed Charan Singh as Prime Minister. This was on the condition that he should prove his majority on the floor of the House before the end of August. Singh was sworn in on 28 July 1979 but never faced Parliament to prove his majority when Reddy convened it on 20 August. Reddy had appointed him Prime Minister since he had produced a letter claiming to have a parliamentary majority with the support of the opposition Congress Party led by his rival, the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Charan Singh government (1979)
The Election Commission of India held indirect 9th presidential elections of India on July 1987. R. Venkataraman with 740,148 votes won over his nearest rival V. R. Krishna Iyer who got 281,550 votes.
1987 Indian presidential election | Introduction
The Election Commission of India held the second presidential elections of India on May 6, 1957. Dr. Rajendra Prasad won his re-election with 459,698 votes over his nearest rival Chowdhry Hari Ram.
1957 elections in India | Presidential election
The Election Commission of India held the first presidential elections of India on May 2, 1952. Dr. Rajendra Prasad won his first election with 507,400 votes over his nearest rival K.T. Shah who got 92,827 votes.
1951–52 elections in India | Presidential election
The 1952 Indian vice presidential election was held in 1952 to elect Vice-President of India. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was elected unopposed as the first VP. Should the election contested by more than one candidate, the poll would occur on 12 May 1952.
1952 Indian vice presidential election | Introduction
Those attempts were unsuccessful and in the 2004 from narsaroapet parliamentary constituency and in 2009 elections from nellore parliamentary constituency as INC candidate, winning on both occasions. Reddy then became a member of the YSR Congress and was re-elected to the 15th Lok Sabha in a by-election.. He was elected as Leader in Lok Sabha from YSRCP Party.
Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy | Introduction
The Election Commission of India held indirect 3rd presidential elections of India on May 7, 1962. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan with 553,067 votes won the presidency over his rivals Chowdhry Hari Ram who got 6,341 votes and Yamuna Prasad Trisulia who got 3,537 votes.
1962 Indian presidential election | Introduction
The Election Commission of India held indirect 6th presidential elections of India on August 17, 1974. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, from Assam with 765,587 votes won over his nearest rival Tridib Chaudhuri, from West Bengal who got 189,196 votes.
1974 Indian presidential election | Introduction
Source: Web archive of Election Commission of India website Giri won a majority of the votes in 11 of India's 17 state legislatures although the Congress Party was in power in 12. His campaign also had the backing of the Communists and other leftist parliamentary parties. Massive defections within the Congress Party resulted in Reddy winning only 268 first preference votes despite the Congress Parliamentary Party having a strength of 431.
1969 Indian presidential election | Results
The Election Commission of India held the first presidential elections of India on May 2, 1952. Dr. Rajendra Prasad won his first election with 507,400 votes (83.81%) over his nearest rival K. T. Shah who got 92,827 votes (15.3%).
1952 Indian presidential election | Introduction
In the elections of 1980, Indira Gandhi's party the Indian National Congress (I) returned to power by winning 351 seats in the Lok Sabha. Neither the Janata Party nor Charan Singh's Lok Dal won the 54 seats needed for recognition as the official opposition in Parliament. Indira was sworn in as Prime Minister by Reddy for what would become her last term in office in January 1980. Between 1980 and 1982 President Reddy led seven state visits abroad, visiting the USSR, Bulgaria, Kenya, Zambia, the UK, Ireland, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Yugoslavia. At home, as president, he signed an ordinance that gave the new government wide powers to imprison people for up to a year without trial under preventive detention and ordered the imposition of President's rule in nine opposition-ruled states on the advice of the government.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Indira Gandhi's return to power (1980–82)
In the 1952 Indian general election, Reddy stood for the People's Democratic Front, (a pseudonym for the banned Communist Party of India), and polled more votes than Jawaharlal Nehru and also the first one entering in the parliament in independent India. In 1984, a protest over water supplies at Bhuvanagiri, led by Reddy under the auspices of the "Jalasadhana Samithi", led to the filing of 485 nominations for the Nalgonda parliamentary seat, requiring officials to produce the election's longest ballot paper. An auditorium, the "Raavi Narayana Reddy Memorial Auditorium Complex" at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad, was built and named in his memory by the "Telangana Martyrs' Memorial Trust".
Ravi Narayana Reddy | Post 1947
When Giri's term ended in 1974, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi chose not to renominate him to the presidency and instead chose Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who was elected in the presidential election of 1974.
V. V. Giri | President of India
For the 1987 general election, the NFP–Labour Coalition chose him as a candidate for the South Western Indian National Constituency which he won easily, but was a member of Parliament for a month when the military coup of 1987 prematurely ended his political career.
Nitya Nand Reddy | Introduction
The 1987 Indian vice-presidential election was held in mid-1987 to elect Vice-President of India, after the incumbent R. Venkataraman's resignation following his election as President. Shankar Dayal Sharma was declared elected unopposed on the final day of registration, 21 August 1987, as all other 26 nominations were rejected upon scrutiny. Should the election contested by more than one candidate, it would be occurred on 7 September 1987.
1987 Indian vice presidential election | Introduction
The 2012 Indian Vice-Presidential election was held on 7 August 2012 to elect Vice-President of India. Mohammad Hamid Ansari was the incumbent and the UPA candidate. The other prime candidate was the NDA's Jaswant Singh. Ansari then reelected as Vice-President. In doing so, he became the first VP to be reelected since Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in 1957.
2012 Indian vice presidential election | Introduction
This presidential election, saw many candidates competing for the presidency, due to the divide nationally for power. The top two candidates were, Shankar Dayal Sharma, put forth by Indian National Congress and George Gilbert Swell, member of Rajya Sabha, from Meghalaya, as the Independent candidate supported by the BJP and National Front.
1992 Indian presidential election | Candidates
In return for her support, Gandhi demanded that a law establishing special courts to try her and her son Sanjay Gandhi be repealed – a proposition that was unacceptable to Charan Singh. Gandhi therefore withdrew her support, forcing Singh to resign. His government lasted 24 days and he never faced Parliament. The convention of appointing a Prime Minister in a hung House but with conditions on time to prove majority was later adopted by President R Venkataraman. Following Charan Singh's resignation, Reddy summoned Chandrashekhar and Jagjivan Ram to Rashtrapati Bhavan to look into the possibility of forming an alternate government.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Charan Singh government (1979)
He was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in 1972, at the age of 26. He was then re-elected in 1977, 1982, 1985, 1993, 1998 and for the 7th time in 2003. In 1977 his margin of victory was highest in the country. Remained General Secretary of All India Congress Committee (A.I.C.C.) from 1977 to 1980.
Rangila Ram Rao | Introduction
He became the first leader since K. Kamaraj to win a re-election as Chief Minister.
M. G. Ramachandran | 1980 Parliament and assembly elections
The Election Commission of India held indirect 6th presidential elections of India on 17 August 1974. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed with 765,587 votes won over his nearest rival Tridib Chaudhuri who got 189,196 votes. He is the first Bengali to participate in the presidential election in India.
Tridib Chaudhuri | Introduction
Ansari was elected as Vice President for a second term, and became the only person to do so after Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who was reelected in 1957. !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" class="unsortable"| !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center|Candidate !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |Party !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |Electoral Votes !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |% of Votes ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Total ! style="text-align:right;"|728 ! style="text-align:right;"|100.00
2012 Indian vice presidential election | Result
The Parliament mourned Reddy's death on 11 June 1996 and members cutting across party lines paid him tribute and recalled his contributions to the nation and the House. Reddy authored a book, "Without Fear or Favour: Reminiscences and Reflections of a President", published in 1989. The character Mahendranath, Chief Minister of the fictional state of Afrozabad in former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao's novel, "The Insider", is based on Reddy, portraying his career in Andhra Pradesh and his political rivalry with Kasu Brahmananda Reddy.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Later life and death
Rao was principal secretary to the President of India Neelam Sanjiva Reddy from 1981 to 1982.
V. K. Rao | Introduction
The Election Commission of India held the indirect 4th presidential elections of India on May 6, 1967. Dr. Zakir Husain, with 471,244 votes, won the presidency over his rival Koka Subba Rao, who garnered 363,971 votes.
1967 Indian presidential election | Introduction
Indian presidential election, 2002 was held on 15 July 2002 to elect President of India. On 18 July 2002, the results were declared. Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam became the 11th President by beating his nearest rival Capt. (Dr.) Lakshmi Sahgal.
2002 Indian presidential election | Introduction
Reddy, convinced that they would not be able to form one, accepted Singh's advice and dissolved Lok Sabha, calling for a mid term election. Singh was asked to continue as the caretaker prime minister till a new government was sworn in after the election. Reddy's decision was met with angry denunciations and protests by members of the Janata Party who even threatened to have him impeached. Although heading a caretaker government, Singh proposed as many as seven ordinances on a broad range of matters from effecting changes in company law, providing state funding of elections and reservation of jobs for the backward classes.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Charan Singh government (1979)
The Indian National Congress presidential election, 2017 was held in December 2017 to elect the President of the Indian National Congress. Rahul Gandhi was elected unopposed President of the Congress. The last party presidential election was held in 2001, where Rahul Gandhi's mother Sonia Gandhi was elected President.
2017 Indian National Congress presidential election | Introduction
Elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1946 as a Congress representative, Reddy became secretary of the Congress' legislature party. He was also a Member of the Indian Constituent Assembly from Madras. From April 1949 to April 1951, he was the Minister for Prohibition, Housing and Forests of the Madras State. Reddy lost the 1951 election to the Madras Legislative Assembly to the Communist leader Tarimela Nagi Reddy.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Political career
Reddy and her husband, Ramachandra Reddy, established a medical practice in Saudi Arabia. In 1985, upon the request of Rajiv Gandhi, the couple returned to India so that Geeta could work on behalf of the Indian National Congress party. She contested elections for the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1989 and became MLA for Gajwel in Medak district. She won that constituency again in 2004. In the 2009 elections, Reddy was parachuted into the Zahirabad constituency, which had elected INC candidates in every election bar one since 1957. Converted to a seat reserved for candidates from the Scheduled Castes, the constituency had been held for a decade by the INC's Mohammed Fareeduddin, who commanded much local respect but was forced by this decision to contest the election elsewhere and lost.
J. Geeta Reddy | Political career
The Indian National Congress presidential election, 2000 was held in December 2000 to elect the President of the Indian National Congress political party. The incumbent President Sonia Gandhi was challenged by Jitendra Prasada, who received 1.02% votes.
2001 Indian National Congress presidential election | Introduction
The election's Returning Officer V. K. Agnihotri announced: "I declare that Shri Pranab Mukherjee has been duly elected to the office of President of India." Mukherjee gained 373,116 MP votes and 340,647 MLA votes for a total of 713,763 votes to win the election. He defeated Sangma, who got 145,848 MP votes and 170,139 MLA votes for a total of 315,987 votes. Mukherjee's win was aided by cross-voting. He took the oath of office on 25 July at 11:00 in the Central Hall of the parliament building. In Andhra Pradesh, the Telegu Desam Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi abstained from voting, while in Kerala and West Bengal, the same is not applied to the Communist Party of India and the Revolutionary Socialist Party.
2012 Indian presidential election | Electoral votes
In 1951, in a closely contested election, he was elected President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee defeating N G Ranga. When the Andhra State was formed in 1953, T. Prakasam became its Chief Minister and Reddy became the deputy. After the later formation of the Andhra Pradesh state by incorporating Telangana with the Andhra State, Reddy became its first Chief Minister from 1 November 1956 to 11 January 1960. He was Chief Minister for a second time from 12 March 1962 to 20 February 1964, thus holding that office for over five years. Reddy was MLA from Sri Kalahasti and Dhone respectively during his stints as Chief Minister.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (1956–60, 1962–64)
In the closely fought election V V Giri emerged victorious, winning 48.01 per cent of the first preference votes and subsequently getting a majority on counting the second preference votes. In the final tally, Giri had 420,077 votes against the quota of 418,169 votes required to be elected president. Following Giri's election, an election petition was filed in the Supreme Court of India contesting its validity on the grounds of having used corrupt practices to influence voters. Giri, unusually for an incumbent president of India, chose to appear in person before the Court where he was examined as a witness.
V. V. Giri | Presidential election of 1969
In the 1960s, when he was Union Minister for Mines, a statue of him had been unveiled at Vijayawada by K Kamaraj, the then president of the Congress Party, prompting Reddy to ask for its removal as he deemed the practice of erecting statues of people holding public office undesirable. A statue of Sanjiva Reddy, unveiled in 2005, stands at the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat in Hyderabad.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Commemoration
The Election Commission of India held indirect 8th presidential elections of India on July 1982. Zail Singh with 754,113 votes won over his nearest rival Hans Raj Khanna who got 282,685 votes. Zail Singh was the first Sikh to be President of India, and along with former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh, were the only two Sikhs, to hold one of the highest national power in India.
1982 Indian presidential election | Introduction
The 1984 Indian vice-presidential election was held on 22 August 1984 to elect Vice-President of India. R. Venkataraman was elected for the post, after he defeated B. C. Kamble in the election.
1984 Indian vice presidential election | Introduction
The 1974 Indian vice-presidential election was held on 27 August 1974. B. D. Jatti defeated his opponent, Niral Enem Horo to become the fifth Vice-President of India. There were some changes in the law regarding vice-presidential elections, as follows:
1974 Indian vice presidential election | Introduction
Giri was sworn in as President of India on 24 August 1969 and held office till 24 August 1974 when he was succeeded by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. On his election, Giri became the only president to have also been an acting president and the only person to be elected president as an independent candidate. As president, Giri unquestioningly accepted Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's decision to sack the Charan Singh ministry in Uttar Pradesh and advised her to go in for early elections in 1971. The ordinance abolishing privy purses and privileges of the erstwhile rulers of India's princely states was promulgated by Giri after the government's original amendment was defeated in the Rajya Sabha.
V. V. Giri | President of India
Sharma served as vice-president until 1992, when he was elected President. He received 66% of the votes in the electoral college, defeating George Gilbert Swell. During his last year as president, it was his responsibility to swear in three prime ministers. He didn't run for a second term as president.
Shankar Dayal Sharma | Presidential election
In 1980, Janata Party disintegrated fully. The old Jan Sangh again reunited as the Bharatiya Janata Party in Mumbai with the lotus as its symbol. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was chosen as the National President and Nanasaheb was chosen as the President of Maharashtra BJP. In the same year, Nanasaheb declared his retirement from active electoral politics and vowed to work for the party only. In 1984, he handed over the presidency to the young Gopinath Munde and declared that in future neither would he contest elections nor would he hold party positions. He will be just 'a party worker' henceforth.
Uttamrao Patil | Retirement from electoral politics (1980-1989)
The 1962 Indian vice presidential election was held in 7 May 1962 to elect Vice-President of India. Zakir Husain was elected for the post. This was the first contested election for Vice Presidency in India, as the first two elections were uncontested, with Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan being the only candidate. He won against N. C. Samantsinhar by a landslide.
1962 Indian vice presidential election | Introduction
The final candidacy application had 45 names. Scrutiny of the candidates took place on 2 July Pranab Mukherjee filed his nomination on 28 June with the support of the INC's Manmohan Singh, party president Sonia Gandhi, General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal's leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Rashtriya Lok Dal's Ajit Singh, the Lok Janshakti Party's Ram Vilas Paswan, the National Conference's Farooq Abdullah, the Indian Union Muslim League's E. Ahmed and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's T. R. Baalu. The "Hindustan Times" suggested that he also had the support of the National Democratic Alliance's Janata Dal (United) and the Shiv Sena, as well as the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
2012 Indian presidential election | Unofficial list
The August 1979 presidential election was won by Alhaji Shehu Shagari, although his victory was disputed since it was based on Ani's interpretation of the ambiguous electoral decree which said "a candidate must obtain one quarter of votes cast in at least two thirds of the states of the federation".
Michael Ani | Introduction
Reddy served thrice as President of the Indian National Congress at its Bangalore, Bhavnagar and Patna sessions during 1960 to 1962. At the Congress session at Goa in 1962, Reddy's speech stating India's determination to end the Chinese occupation of Indian territory and the irrevocable nature of the liberation of Goa was enthusiastically received by attendees. He was thrice member of the Rajya Sabha. From June 1964, Reddy was Union Minister of Steel and Mines in the Lal Bahadur Shastri government. He also served as Union Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation, Shipping and Tourism from January 1966 to March 1967 in Indira Gandhi's Cabinet.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Congress President (1960–62) and Union Minister (1964–67)
Thatiparthi Jeevan Reddy is a senior politician in Telangana State and is a member of the Indian National Congress.He is Member of Legislative Council from Karimnagar Assembly constituency. He was first elected as Panchayat Samithi President of Mallial in 1981 in a non-party based elections, which is equivalent to today's Legislative Constituency. He was elected as M.L.A for the first time from T.D.P in the year 1983 and was inducted in the State Cabinet with an Excise Minister portfolio. He later differed with N.T.R and joined the Congress Party under the leadership of late Sree Rajeev Gandhi in the year 1984.
T. Jeevan Reddy | Introduction
Nagi Reddy began his political career in 1984, when he was elected president of the Rudravaram Cooperative Society. From 1986 to 1990, he was a mandal president in Allagadda MPP. Nagi Reddy stood as an MLA candidate for the opposition Telugu Desam Party in the 1991 by-election for the Allagadda constituency left vacant by the death of his brother Bhuma Sekhar Reddy, who died of a heart attack on 7 June. In 1996, he challenged Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao for the TDP. Although Nagi Reddy was narrowly defeated, he gained many supporters and considerable publicity. Narasimha Rao resigned the Nandyal seat to retain the Berhampur constituency, leading to a by-election.
Bhuma Nagi Reddy | Politics
In a major turn of events, the ruling Congress lost control of India for the first time in independent India in the Indian general election, 1977. The hastily formed Janata alliance of parties, opposed to the ruling Congress party, won 298 seats. Morarji Desai was chosen as the leader of the alliance in the newly formed parliament and thus became India's first non-Congress Prime Minister on 24 March. The Congress lost nearly 200 seats. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her powerful son Sanjay Gandhi both lost their seats. The election came after the end of The Emergency that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had imposed in 1975; it effectively suspended democracy, suppressed the opposition, and took control of the media with authoritarian measures.
1977 Indian general election | Introduction
A presidential election was held in India on 17 July 2017 before the term of the President Pranab Mukherjee ended. Ram Nath Kovind was declared the winner after the counting of votes which was held on 20 July 2017.
2017 elections in India | Presidential election
The Election Commission of India held indirect 10th presidential elections of India on 16 July 1992. Shankar Dayal Sharma with 675,864 votes won over his nearest rival George Gilbert Swell who got 346,485 votes.
1992 Indian presidential election | Introduction
Election Commission of India held the 11th presidential elections of India on 17 July 1997. K. R. Narayanan with 956,290 votes won over his nearest rival T. N. Seshan who got 50,631 votes. Narayanan was the first dalit to be President of India.
1997 Indian presidential election | Introduction
Source: Web archive of Election Commission of India website
1974 Indian presidential election | Results
Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (28 July 1909 – 20 May 1994) was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, India, from 29 February 1964 to 30 September 1971. On 3 June 1977, he was elected president of the Indian National Congress.
Kasu Brahmananda Reddy | Introduction
K. R. Narayanan was elected to the Presidency of India (17 July 1997) with 95% of the votes in the electoral college, as a result of the Presidential poll on 14 July. This is the only Presidential election to have been held with a minority government holding power at the centre. T. N. Seshan was the sole opposing candidate, and all major parties save the Shiv Sena supported his candidature., while Seshan alleged that Narayanan had been elected solely for being a Dalit. He was sworn in as the President of India (25 July 1997) by Chief Justice J. S.
K. R. Narayanan | Presidency
The Election Commission of India held indirect 13th presidential elections of India on 19 July 2007. Pratibha Patil with 638,116 votes won over her nearest rival Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who got 331,306 votes. This result meant that Pratibha Patil became the first female President of India.
2007 Indian presidential election | Introduction
In 1978, Reddy was elected as Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), Andhra Pradesh from Armoor constituency along with former Chief Minister Dr. Y. S. Raja Sekhara Reddy and former Chief Minister Mr. Nara Chandra Babu Naidu. He was elected as (MLA) for the second time in the wave of then film star NT Rama Rao in 1983. He was elected for the third time as (MLA) in 1989. And he was elected as (MLA) for the fourth time (presently) in 2004 (TRS).
Sanigaram Santosh Reddy | Member of legislative assembly
In 2012, he was elected as the President of Andhra Pradesh Youth Congress. The election holds significance as it was for the first time when the President was not nominated but democratically elected. The election was the idea of Rahul Gandhi who wanted to promote internal democracy in the party. He was briefly suspended from Congress party for instigating a mob to attack Reliance Inc Outlets, based on a Russian website.
Challa Vamshi Chand Reddy | Political career
Satyamurti, K Kamaraj and V V Giri till 1945.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Role in the Indian independence movement
During his term as Speaker a defamation suit filed against him by an MP resulted in the Supreme Court's ruling that parliamentarians had complete freedom of speech in the House and that the courts had no say in such matters. Reddy described his role as being the 'watchman of the Parliament'. He however had several hostile encounters with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the House that proved costly when he became, two years later, the Congress Party's nominee to succeed Zakir Hussain as president.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Speaker of the Lok Sabha (1967–69)
He was called to United Kingdom Bar, Inner Temple in 1993. In 1993, Prime Minister Jugnauth asked the Speaker of the National Assembly to declare Ramgoolam's seat vacant as he had not attended Parliament for three consecutive moments. The Speaker referred the case to the Court but the Judge found that it was unconstitutional.
Navin Ramgoolam | 1991 elections and first candidacy
In the general elections of 1967, Reddy was elected to the Lok Sabha from Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh. On 17 March 1967, Reddy was elected Speaker of the Fourth Lok Sabha becoming only the third person to be elected Speaker of the house during their inaugural term. To emphasize the independence of the Speaker's office, Reddy resigned from the Congress Party. His term as Speaker was marked by several firsts including the admission of a No-Confidence Motion on the same day as the President's address to a joint session of Parliament, the handing down of a sentence of imprisonment for Contempt of the house and the setting up of the Committee on the Welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Speaker of the Lok Sabha (1967–69)
Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju was re-elected unopposed in the 2014 general election after opposition parties withdrew their candidacies in a boycott of the election.
Narsingdi-5 | Elections in the 2010s
In the first election after Sikkim joined the Union, Indian National Congress candidate, Chhatra Bahadur Chhetri was elected unopposed.
Sikkim (Lok Sabha constituency) | General election 1977
He resigned from his official position in 1952 to embark on Parliamentary career by contesting the first general election of independent India from Tellicherry constituency, and winning with a thumping majority. During his tenure in the Lok Sabha (1956), he was part of a Parliamentary delegation to China when Prime Minister Zhou Enlai was in power.
Nettur P. Damodaran | Early years and the freedom struggle
Giri was elected president a few months later. He remains the only person to have held office both as a president and acting president. Rajendra Prasad, the first president of India, is the only person to have held office for two terms. Seven presidents have been members of a political party before being elected. Six of these were active party members of the Indian National Congress. The Janata Party has had one member, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, who later became president. Two presidents, Zakir Husain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, have died in office. Their vice presidents served as acting presidents until a new president was elected.
List of presidents of India | Introduction
Ram Nath Kovind was declared the winner after the counting of votes which was held on 20 July 2017. He was administered oath by the Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar, to take office as the 14th President of India on 25 July 2017 at the Central Hall located in The Parliament House, New Delhi.
2017 Indian presidential election | Results
He retained the seat at the 2nd parliamentary election, held between 24 May 1952 and 30 May 1952, receiving 41.19% of the total vote.
Somaweera Chandrasiri | Introduction
Venkat Rama Rao, Desini Mallayya, Annaboina Mallayya, Poodari Yellaiah, L. Muttayya, S. Nambaiah, Thakur Raja Ram Singh, Shyam Sunder Singh and many others. Rajeshwara Rao could not contest the first general elections held in February 1952 because he was released from jail on the last date of nomination and could not reach Metpalli, where he was supposed to contest on behalf of People's Democratic Front - a proxy for the Communist Party of India which was still banned at this time. In 1957, Rajeshwara Rao was elected to the first Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh from the Choppadandi constituency. Throughout his career as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), he served the Karimnagar district and got re-elected five times from Sircilla and once from Choppadandi in the following years.
Chennamaneni Rajeshwara Rao | Political career
After the final results were published, Mukherjee secured 7,13,424 value of votes, while P. A. Sangma secured 3,17,032 values of votes. The Returning Officer for the Election, and the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha, Vivek Agnihotri, then declared Mukherjee to be elected as President of India. Sangma subsequently accused the President-elect of graft.
P. A. Sangma | Presidential election
Gopala Reddy. He was unable to attend the first session of the Andhra State Legislative Assembly, as he had fallen ill during a visit to Madras. He died from heart problems at Madras General Hospital on May 4, 1955, at the age of 41. Following his death, a by-election was held in which Congress candidate Neerukonda Venkatarathnam was elected unopposed.
N.V. Rama Rao | Introduction
Source: Web archive of Election Commission of India website
1987 Indian presidential election | Results
The 14th indirect presidential election, in order to elect the 13th president, was held in India on 19 July 2012. The last date for filing nominations was 30 June, whereas the votes would be counted on 22 July. The two leading candidates for the presidency were former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee from West Bengal and former Speaker of the Lok Sabha Purno Agitok Sangma from Meghalaya. On 22 July, Mukherjee was declared the winner. He was sworn in on 25 July at 11:30.
2012 Indian presidential election | Introduction
Varahagiri Venkata Giri (; Telugu: వరాహగిరి వేంకటగిరి; 10 August 189424 June 1980) was the fourth president of India from 24 August 1969 to 24 August 1974. He was the only president to be elected as an independent candidate. He was succeeded by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed as president in 1974. After the end of his full term, Giri was honoured by the Government of India with the Bharat Ratna in 1975. Giri died on 24 June 1980. His great grandson V. Giri Shankar is an Advocate of the Madras High Court, Chennai.
V. V. Giri | Introduction
He was defeated by Urmila Devi of the Congress (I) in a 1981 by-election (the 1980 election had been suspended following the death of Congress (I) candidate Randhir Prasad, Urmila Devi's husband). Mishra's candidature had been supported by the CPI(M), RSP and Lok Dal.
Chaturanan Mishra | 1981 election
A presidential election was held in India on 17 July 2017 with the votes counted and the results announced on 20 July 2017. Ram Nath Kovind became 14th President of India. President Pranab Mukherjee, whose term of office was due to expire on 24 July 2017, declined to seek re-election due to health concerns and old age. Governor of Bihar Ram Nath Kovind of the Bharatiya Janata Party had the backing of the governing National Democratic Alliance coalition, and went up against opposition candidate Meira Kumar of the Indian National Congress in the vote. Kovind secured roughly two-thirds of the votes from the electoral college of elected members of federal, state and union territory legislatures and was elected to a five-year term as President.
2017 Indian presidential election | Introduction
In the 1971 election, INC candidate, P. M. Sayeed was elected unopposed.
Lakshadweep (Lok Sabha constituency) | General election 1971
T. Rajan. Reddy finally quit the party in 1952. In 1952, Reddy contested the First Lok Sabha elections as an independent from Nellore and was successful. He served as a Member of the Lok Sabha from 1952 to 1957.
Bezawada Ramachandra Reddy | In the Legislative Council