The prime minister of India The sitting prime minister ranks third in the Order of Precedence of India[13] and is appointed by the president of India; however, the prime minister has to enjoy the confidence of the majority of Lok Sabha members, who are directly elected every five years, lest the prime minister shall resign. The prime minister can be a member of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament. The prime minister controls the selection and dismissal of members of the Union Council of Ministers and allocation of posts to members within the government.
The longest-serving prime minister was the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, whose tenure lasted 16 years and 286 days. His premiership was followed by Lal Bahadur Shastri‘s short tenure and Indira Gandhi‘s 11- and 4-year-long tenures, with both politicians belonging to the Indian National Congress. After Indira Gandhi’s assassination, her son Rajiv Gandhi took charge until 1989, when a decade with five unstable governments began. This was followed by the full terms of P. V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh, and Narendra Modi, who is the current prime minister of India, serving since 26 May 2014. He is the first non-Congress leader to become PM after consecutive general elections and secure a third successive term (2014, 2019, 2024). The first prime minister to do so was Jawaharlal Nehru, who secured successive terms following the victory in the general elections of 1946, 1952, 1957, and 1962.
Origins and history
India follows a parliamentary system in which the prime minister is the presiding head of the government and chief of the executive of the government. In such systems, the head of state, or, the head of state’s official representative (i.e., the monarch, president, or governor-general) usually holds a purely ceremonial position and acts, on most matters, only on the advice of the prime minister.
The prime minister must become a member of parliament within six months of beginning their tenure, if they are not one already. A prime minister is expected to work with other central ministers to ensure the passage of bills by the parliament.
