The Prime Minister of India is the head of the government. He is appointed by the Indian President after the political party wins a general election and nominates a candidate for the post. The leader of that political party is thereafter appointed as the Prime Minister of India.
Article 78 of the Indian Constitution specifies the duties of the Prime Minister of India. He acts as a link between the President and cabinet while discharging his duties.
Article 75 of the Indian Constitution envisages that there will be a Prime Minister who shall be appointed by the President of India. Prime Minister is the leader of the Cabinet Ministers. The main executive powers of the government are vested in the Prime Minister while the President is the nominal head of the State.
Prime Minister of India determines the dates of its meetings and programmes for the Parliament session. He also decides when the house has to be prorogued or dissolved. As a chief spokesman, he makes the announcement of principal government policies and answers questions.
List of Prime Ministers of India
In 74 years of independence, India has got its 19 Prime Ministers. The list of Prime Ministers of India along with the period they served in the office, is given in the table below:
| S. No. | Name | Tenure |
| 1 | Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru | 15th Aug 1947- 27th May 1964 |
| 2 | Gulzarilal Nanda (interim) | 27th May 1964- 9th Jun 1964 |
| 3 | Lal Bahadur Shastri | 9th June 1964 -11th January 1966 |
| 4 | Gulzarilal Nanda | 11th January 1966- 24th January 1966 |
| 5 | Indira Gandhi | 24th January 1966- 24th March 1977 |
| 6 | Morarji Desai | 24th March 1977- 28th July 1979 |
| 7 | Charan Singh | 28th July 1979- 14th January 1980 |
| 8 | Indira Gandhi | 14th January 1980- 31st October 1984 |
| 9 | Rajiv Gandhi | 31st October 1984- 2nd December 1989 |
| 10 | Vishwa Pratap Singh | 2nd December 1989- 10th November 1990 |
| 11 | Chandra Shekhar | 10th November 1990-21st June 1991 |
| 12 | P. V Narasimha Rao | 21st June 1991- 16th May 1996 |
| 13 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | 16th May 1996-1st June 1996 |
| 14 | H. D Deve Gowda | 1st June 1996- 21st April 1997 |
| 15 | Inder Kumar Gujral | 21st April 1997- 18th March 1998 |
| 16 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | 18th March 1998- 22nd May 2004 |
| 17 | Dr Manmohan Singh | 22nd May 2004 -17th May 2014 |
| 18 | Narendra Modi | 26th May 2014 -23rd May 2019 |
| 19 | Narendra Modi | 30th May 2019 -Incumbent |
