The least known facts about the history of Indian Vice Presidents

Lucknow: India is all set to get its 13^th Vice President as NDA candidate M Venkaiah Naidu has won the election over UPA nominee Gopalkrishna Gandhi by 272 votes. Very few people know that Naidu, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, will be the seventh Vice President belonging to the southern part of the country.

Before NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind's election as the President of India, BJP did not have much to celebrate as far as presidential elections were concerned. During 2002 to 2007, when Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was the VP, APJ Abdul Kalam was the President of the country. Kalam was the unanimous choice of all the political parties then. When his tenure ended, Congress fielded Pratibha Patil as its next candidate in 2007 and Shekhawat had to taste defeat.

KR Narayanan was the first ever Dalit President of the country. It may be recalled that he was a former Indian Foreign Services (IFS) officer who forayed into politics on Indira Gandhi's request. He won the Lok Sabha elections thrice on the trot and was also inducted in the Union cabinet.

In the year 1992, he became the ninth Indian Vice President and five years later in 1997, he became the first citizen of the country.

Also Read: M Venkaiah Naidu elected as the new Vice President of India

Here we have compiled some similar least known facts about the history of Indian VPs. Have a look:

• Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1952-62) and Hamid Ansari (2007-17) were the only Indian Vice Presidents who got two back to back tenures.
• Out of the 13 VPs, six later went on to become the President of the country.
• Once BJP candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was the only Vice President who lost the presidential election. He had lost to UPA's candidate Pratibha Patil in 2007.
• The first Vice President of India, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, was also the first VP to become the President of the country.
• He took over the reins from India's first President Dr Rajendra Prasad, while Zakir Husain was named Vice President during his tenure, the first Muslim to get the post.
• After the end of Radhakrishnan's tenure, Zakir Husain went on to become the first Muslim President of India, and VV Giri was named the Vice President.
• Zakir, however, died during his tenure and had the shortest stint in the office (May 13, 1967 to May 3, 1969).
• VV Giri was not backed by Congress but he had the support of Indira Gandhi. Congress had nominated Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, who lost the election to Giri.

Also Read: PM Modi congratulates Venkaiah Naidu on winning VP election

• It was due to the strong hold of Indira Gandhi over Indian politics which led to Giri's victory.
• After winning the election, VV Giri raised his two fingers which later got recognition as the 'victory sign' at the global level.
• The procedure of VP becoming the President continued till Shankar Dayal Sharma, who was the only person to have served as Chief Minister of a state and Congress president.
• The list of vice presidents who could not become the president of the country include the names of Krishnakant, Hidayatullah, B.D.Jatti, Gopal Swarup Pathak and Hamid Ansari.
• BD Jatti, however, got the chance of holding President's chair from February 11, 1977 to July 25, 1977 as the Acting President, because the newly elected President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed had passed away.

The south Indian candidates have often been the best choice for the post of Vice President. Here is the list of former VPs who came from the southern regions of the country.

• Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Tamil Nadu)
• Zakir Husain (Telangana)
• VV Giri (Odisha, then - Orissa)
• BD Jatti (Karnataka)
• R Venkataraman (Tamil Nadu)
• K R Narayanan (Travancore, Kerala)
• M Venkaiah Naidu (Vice President Elect in 2017) (Andhra Pradesh)

Also Read: Venkaiah Naidu: A witty one-liner Vice President

The list of Vice Presidents who later became the President of India:

• Sarvpalli Radhakrishnan
• Zakir Husain
• VV Giri
• R Venkataraman
• Shankar Dayal Sharma
• KR Narayanan

List of Vice Presidents of India:

• Dr Sarvpalli Radhakrishnan (1952-1962)
• Zakir Husain (1962-1967)
• VV Giri (1967-1969)
• Gopal Swarup Pathak (1969-1974)
• BJ Jatti (1974-1979)
• Mohammad Hidayatullah (1979-1984)
• Ramaswamy Venkataraman (1984-1987)
• Shankar Dayal Sharma (1987-1992)
• K R Narayanan (1992-1997)
• Krishnakant (1997-2002)
• Bharro Singh Shekhawat (2002-2007)
• Hamid Ansari (2007-2017)
• M Venkaiah Naidu (Vice President Elect in 2017)