Deputy Prime Minister of India
Bhārat Ke Upapradhānamantri
State Emblem of India
Flag of India
Incumbent Vacant since 23 May 2004
Government of India
Style	The Honourable (formal) His Excellency (diplomatic) Mr. Deputy Prime Minister (informal)
Type	Deputy Head of government
Status	Deputy Leader of the Executive
Member of	Parliament of India Union Council of Ministers
Reports to	President of India Vice President of India Prime Minister of India Parliament of India
Nominator	Prime Minister of India
Appointer	President of India
Formation	15 August 1947; 75 years ago (1947-08-15)
First holder	Vallabhbhai Patel
Final holder	L. K. Advani

The deputy prime minister of India (IAST: Bhārat Ke Upapradhānamantri) 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 deputises for the prime minister in their absence.

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 1947 India has had 7 deputy prime ministers, of which none having at least one full term. 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. 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. Jagjivan Ram and Yashwantrao Chavan became deputy prime ministers consecutively without the break in different ministries. Devi Lal is the only deputy prime minister to represent both parties in the same post. Lal Krishna Advani was the seventh and last person to serve as the deputy prime minister of India until the post became vacant.

The current government does not have a deputy prime minister and the post has been vacant since 23 May 2004.

List

Key

• ^RES Resigned
• ^† Died in office
• ^§ Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term

BJP   (1)   INC   (2)   INC(U)   (1)    JD   (1)   JP   (2)   SJP(R)   (1)
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected Constituency	Term of office[1]			Lok Sabha (Election)	Prime Minister		Appointed by	Political Party[a]
				Assumed Office	Left Office	Time in Office
1		Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950)	Constituent Assembly member for United Provinces	15 August 1947	15 December 1950[†]	3 years, 122 days	Constituent Assembly[b]	Jawaharlal Nehru		Rajendra Prasad	Indian National Congress
Vacant (16 December 1950 – 12 March 1967)
2		Morarji Desai (1896–1995)	Surat	13 March 1967	19 July 1969[RES]	2 years, 128 days	4th (1967)	Indira Gandhi		Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	Indian National Congress
Vacant (20 July 1969 – 23 January 1979)
3		Charan Singh (1902–1987)	Baghpat	24 January 1979	16 July 1979[RES]	173 days	6th (1977)	Morarji Desai		Neelam Sanjiva Reddy	Janata Party
4		Jagjivan Ram (1908–1986)	Sasaram		28 July 1979[RES]	185 days
5		Yashwantrao Chavan (1913–1984)	Satara	28 July 1979	14 January 1980	170 days		Charan Singh			Indian National Congress (Urs)
Vacant (15 January 1980 – 1 December 1989)
6		Devi Lal (1915–2001)	Rohtak and Sikar	2 December 1989	1 August 1990[RES]	242 days	9th (1989)	Vishwanath Pratap Singh		R. Venkataraman	Janata Dal
Vacant (2 August 1990 – 9 November 1990)
(6)		Devi Lal (1915–2001)	Rohtak and Sikar	10 November 1990	21 June 1991[RES]	223 days	9th (1989)	Chandra Shekhar		R. Venkataraman	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)
Vacant (22 June 1991 – 28 June 2002)
7		Lal Krishna Advani (1927–)	Gandhinagar	29 June 2002	22 May 2004	1 year, 328 days	13th (1999)	Atal Bihari Vajpayee		K. R. Narayanan	Bharatiya Janata Party
Vacant (Since 23 May 2004)

Statistics

List of deputy prime ministers by length of term

Timeline

List by party

Parties by total duration (in days) of holding Deputy Prime Minister's Office