Presidential Election 2022: List of India's longest and shortest-serving Presidents

New Delhi, July 21: India is all set to get its 15th president today. NDA Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu is poised to win against Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.

Murmu, if elected, will be the first tribal woman to occupy the top constitutional post in the country. Incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind's tenure is ending on July 24 and the new president will take oath on July 25.

As the counting of votes is underway for the Presidential elections, we take a closer look at the longest and the shortest serving presidents of India.

Fourteen people have been elected as the President of India since India became a republic in 1950. Apart from these fourteen, three acting presidents have also been in office for short periods of time.

Varahagiri Venkata Giri became the acting president in 1969 after Zakir Husain, died in office. 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. Following Zakir Husain's death, two acting presidents held office until the new president, V. V. Giri, was elected.

When Giri resigned to take part in the presidential elections, he was succeeded by Mohammad Hidayatullah as acting president. The 12th president, Pratibha Patil, is the first woman to hold the office, elected in 2007.

• Rajendra Prasad was the first president of India. He served in office for a span of 12 years from 1950 to 1962.
• Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the second president of India, who served from 1962 to 1967.
• Zakir Hussain was the third president of India who remained in office for two years.
• VV Giri, an independent candidate, served as the president of India from 1969-1974.
• Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was in office between 1974 and 1977.
• Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, remained in post between 1977 to 1982. He is the only example of an unopposed victory in the Presidential election.
• Zail Singh served as the seventh Indian president, from 1982 to 1987.
• Ramaswamy Venkataraman served between 1987 and 1992.
• Congress leader Shankar Dayal served between 1992 and 1997.
• KR Narayan served as the president of India between 1997 and 2002.
• APJ Abdul Kalam, a renowned scientist held the post from 2002 to 2007.
• Prathiba Patil, India's first woman president, remained in office from 2007 to 2012.
• Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee served in office from 2012 to 2017.
• Ram Nath Kovind the 14th president of India is set to retire on July 25.