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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lal Krishna Advani was the seventh person to serve as the deputy prime minister of India, until the post became vacant.