At least five former vice-presidents could not become the President for different reasons contrary to the perception of an elevation of a sitting vice-president to the top post.
The former vice-presidents include Gopal Swarup Pathak, Basappa Danappa Jatti, Mohammed Hidayatullah, Krishna Kant and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
Jatti (August 31, 1974 to August 30, 1979) could not became the President because of stiff opposition from the then ruling Janata Party.
Krishna Kant (August 21, 1997 to July 27, 2002) died before the expiry of his term while Bhairon Singh Shekhawat fought the presidential election unsuccessfully.
But Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Dr Zakir Hussain, Varahagiri Venkata Giri, R. Venkataraman, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma and K.R. Narayanan got elevated from the vice-president to the President.
V.V. Giri’s election to the President’s post was literally historic. It had not only coined the term “conscience vote”, but had seen how the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked her loyalists to vote against the Congress-backed official candidate Neelam Sanjiva Reddy in the July 1969 election.
Interestingly, Dr Farkruddin Ali Ahmed, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, Giani Zail Singh and Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam became the President without occupying the post of vice-president. Even the incumbent, Ms Prathibha Patil, got elevated to the top post from Rajasthan governor.
If K.R. Narayanan became the President due to the pressure of political parties pressing for social justice in 1997, Dr Kalam was the candidate of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in the 2002 election.
The then ruling BJP-led NDA had accepted Dr Kalam and the then Opposition Congress had no choice but to back him.
The BJP’s real candidate that time was Dr P.C. Alexander but this was not acceptable to the Congress party.