Varahagiri Venkata Giri

Born: 10 August 1894

Died: 24 June 1980

He was the fourth president of India from 24 August 1969 to 24 August 1974.
He was the only president to be elected as an independent candidate.
He was succeeded by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed as president in 1974.
After the end of his full term, Giri was honoured by the Government of India with the Bharat Ratna in 1975.
He died on 24 June 1980.
His great-grandson V. Giri Shankar is an Advocate of the Madras High Court, Chennai.
From 1947 to 1951, he served as India’s first High Commissioner to Ceylon.
In the General Elections of 1951, he was elected to the 1st Lok Sabha from Pathapatnam Lok Sabha Constituency in the Madras State.
He is regarded as a president who completely subordinated himself to the prime minister and has been described as a “Prime Minister’s President”, a loyalist president and a rubber stamp president under whom the independence of the office eroded.
When his term ended in 1974, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi chose not to renominate him to the presidency and instead chose Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who was elected in the presidential election of 1974.