The deputy prime minister of India (IAST: ), although not a Constitutional post, is the second-highest ranking minister of the Union in the executive branch of the Government of India and is a senior member of the Union Council of Ministers. The office holder also deputizes for the prime minister in their absence.
The sitting deputy prime minister ranks fourth in the Order of Precedence of India and is nominated by prime minister and appointed by the president of India.
The longest-serving deputy prime minister was the first deputy prime minister, Vallabhbhai Patel, whose tenure lasted 3 years and 122 days. His premiership was followed by Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Jagjivan Ram, Yashwantrao Chavan, Devi Lal and L.K. Advani.
The office has since been only intermittently occupied, having been occupied for a little more than 10 years out of the 75 years since its inception. Since 1950 India has had 7 deputy prime ministers, of which none having at least one full term.
Origins and history
India follows a parliamentary system in which the deputy prime minister is the presiding deputy head of the government and deputy chief of the executive of the government. The deputy prime minister must become a member of parliament within six months of beginning their tenure, if they are not one already.
1947–1950
Since 1947, there have been 7 different deputy prime ministers. The first was 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.
1967–1969
After Patel, the post was vacant until Morarji Desai became the second deputy prime minister in 1967 and has the second-longest tenure. Morarji Desai and Charan Singh were the deputy prime ministers who later became Prime Minister of India.
After Desai, the post was vacant again for almost 10 years.
1979–1980
In less than a year there were 3 different deputy prime ministers, Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram became deputy prime ministers simultaneously under one ministry, and they were consecutively followed by Yashwantrao Chavan without any break, who became deputy prime minister in a different ministry.
After Chavan, the post was vacant again for almost 10 years.
1989–1991
Devi Lal is the only deputy prime minister to represent both parties in the same post. The post was vacant for 100 days between the two terms of Devi Lal.
After Lal, the post was vacant again for more than 11 years.
2002–2004
Lal Krishna Advani was the seventh person to serve as the deputy prime minister of India, until the post became vacant.
List
;Key
- Resigned
- Died in office
- Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term
{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="12" | (1) (2) (1) (1) (2) (1)
|-
!colspan="2"| Portrait
!width=200|Name<br><small>(borndied)<br>Constituency</small>
!colspan="2" |Term of office<br>
!width=225|Other ministerial offices held
!width=100| Political party
!width=100| Ministry
!colspan="2"| Prime Minister
|-
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|rowspan="2"| 100px
|rowspan="2"| Vallabhbhai Patel
|<small>15 August</small>
1947
|<br>1950
|rowspan="2" align="left" style="background:#eaecf0; font-size:90%" |
|rowspan="2"| Indian National Congress
|rowspan="2" bgcolor="#87CEEB" |Nehru I
|style="width:10em" rowspan="2"| Jawaharlal Nehru
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|-
!colspan="2" style="font-size:90%; font-weight:normal" |
|-
| colspan="12" bgcolor="black" |,
|-
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|rowspan="2"| 100px
|rowspan="2"| Morarji Desai
|<br>1967
|<br>1969<br>
|rowspan="2" align="left" style="background:#eaecf0; font-size:90%" |
|rowspan="2"| Indian National Congress
|rowspan="2" bgcolor="#87CEEB" |Indira II
|rowspan="2"| Indira Gandhi
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|-
!colspan="2" style="font-size:90%; font-weight:normal" |
|-
| colspan="12" bgcolor="black" |
|-
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|rowspan="2"| 100px
|rowspan="2"| Charan Singh
|<br>1979
|<br>1979<br>
|rowspan="2" align="left" style="background:#eaecf0; font-size:90%" |
|rowspan="4"| Janata Party
|rowspan="4" bgcolor="#4089F7"| Desai
|rowspan="4"| Morarji Desai
|rowspan="4" bgcolor=""|
|-
!colspan="2" style="font-size:90%; font-weight:normal" |
|-
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|rowspan="2"| 100px
|rowspan="2"| Jagjivan Ram
|<br>1979
|<br>1979<br>
|rowspan="2" align="left" style="background:#eaecf0; font-size:90%" |
|-
!colspan="2" style="font-size:90%; font-weight:normal" |
|-
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|rowspan="2"| 100px
|rowspan="2"| Yashwantrao Chavan<br>
|<br>1979
|<br>1980
|rowspan="2" align="left" style="background:#eaecf0; font-size:90%" |
|rowspan="2"| Indian National Congress (Urs)
|rowspan="2" bgcolor="#6495ED"|Charan
|rowspan="2"| Charan Singh
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|-
!colspan="2" style="font-size:90%; font-weight:normal" |
|-
| colspan="12" bgcolor="black" |
|-
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|rowspan="2"| 100px
|rowspan="2"| Devi Lal
|<br>1989
|<br>1990<br>
|rowspan="2" align="left" style="background:#eaecf0; font-size:90%" |
|rowspan="2"| Janata Dal
|rowspan="2" style="background:#4C915F"| Singh
|rowspan="2"| V. P. Singh
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|-
!colspan="2" style="font-size:90%; font-weight:normal" |
|-
|colspan="12" bgcolor="black" |
|-
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|rowspan="2"| 100px
|rowspan="2"| Devi Lal
|<br>1990
|<br>1991<br>
|rowspan="2" align="left" style="background:#eaecf0; font-size:90%" |
|rowspan="2"| Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)
|rowspan="2" style="background:#74C365"| Shekhar
|rowspan="2"| Chandra Shekhar
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|-
!colspan="2" style="font-size:90%; font-weight:normal" |
|-
|colspan="12" bgcolor="black" |
|-
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|rowspan="2"| 95px
|rowspan="2"| Lal Krishna Advani
|<br>2002
|<br>2004
|rowspan="2" align="left" style="background:#eaecf0; font-size:90%" |
|rowspan="2"| Bharatiya Janata Party
|rowspan="2" style="background:#FFA551;"| Vajpayee III
|rowspan="2"| Atal Bihari Vajpayee
|rowspan="2" bgcolor=""|
|-
!colspan="2" style="font-size:90%; font-weight:normal" |
|-
| colspan="12" bgcolor="black" |
|}
List of deputy prime ministers by length of term
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="width:75%; text-align:center"
!rowspan=2|No.
!rowspan=2|Name
!rowspan=2 colspan=4|Party
!colspan=2|Length of term
|-
!Longest continuous term
!Total years of <br> deputy prime ministership
|-
!1
|Vallabhbhai Patel
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"|
| colspan="3" rowspan="2" |INC
| colspan="2" |3 years, 122 days
|-
!2
|Morarji Desai
| colspan="2" |2 years, 128 days
|-
!3
|Lal Krishna Advani
|style="background-color:"|
|colspan=3|BJP
| colspan="2" |1 year, 328 days
|-
!4
|Devi Lal
|style="background-color:"|
|JD
|style="background-color:"|
|SJP(R)
|242 days
|1 year, 100 days
|-
!5
|Jagjivan Ram
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"|
| colspan="3" rowspan="2" |JP
| colspan="2" |185 days
|-
!6
|Charan Singh
| colspan="2" |173 days
|-
!7
|Yashwantrao Chavan
|style="background-color:"|
|colspan=3|INC(U)
| colspan="2" |170 days
|}
;Timeline
Lifespan of deputy prime ministers
List by party
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|+Political parties by total timespan of their member holding Deputy Prime Minister's Office <br> ()
! data-sort-type=number |
! Political party
! data-sort-type=number | Number of Deputy Prime ministers
! Total days of holding DPMO
|-
!1
|Indian National Congress
|2
|2077 days
|-
!2
|Bharatiya Janata Party
|1
|693 days
|-
!3
|Janata Dal
|1
|242 days
|-
!4
|Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)
|1
|223 days
|-
!5
|Janata Party
|2
|185 days
|-
!6
|Indian National Congress (Urs)
|1
|170 days
|}
Parties by total duration (in days) of holding Deputy Prime Minister's Office
See also
- President of India
- List of presidents of India
- Vice President of India
- List of vice presidents of India
- Prime Minister of India
- List of prime ministers of India