Background
Shankar Dayal Sharma was born on 19th August 1918 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh to father Khushilal Sharma and mother Subhadra Sharma.
Shankar Dayal Sharma was born on 19th August 1918 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh to father Khushilal Sharma and mother Subhadra Sharma.
During the 1940s he was involved in the struggle for Indian independence from the British and joined the Indian National Congress, a party which he would remain loyal to for the rest of his life. In 1952 he became the chief minister of the Bhopal state and served in that position until the state reorganization of 1956 when Bhopal state merged with several other states to form the state of Madhya Pradesh.
From 1974 he served in the union cabinet as the minister for Communication from 1974–1977. In 1971 and 1980 he won a Lok Sabha seat from Bhopal. In 1984 he began serving as a governor of Indian states, first in Andhra Pradesh.
In 1987 when he was elected for a 5-year term as the eighth Vice-President of India and chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
Presidential election
Sharma served as Vice-President until 1992, when he was elected President. He received 66% of the votes in the electoral college, defeating George Gilbert Swell. During his last year as President it was his responsibility to swear in three prime ministers. He did not run for a second term as President.