The President of India from 1977 to 1982 was:

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was the sixth President of India, holding office from 25 July 1977 to 25 July 1982.

How he became President:

• After the death of President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed in February 1977, an election was held.
• Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was elected unopposed, the only President of India to be elected without a contest.
• He was the candidate of the Janata Party, which had come to power after the emergency.

Earlier career:

• He was born in 1913 in Anantapur district of present-day Andhra Pradesh.
• He was the first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, from 1956 to 1960.
• He served as President of the Indian National Congress.
• He was a Union minister in the governments of Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.
• He was twice elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha, in 1967 and in 1977.

The 1969 presidential election:

He was the official Congress candidate in 1969 but lost to V.V. Giri, who won with second-preference votes.

This was one of the few occasions when an official candidate lost a presidential election.

As President:

• He dealt with the fall of the Morarji Desai government in 1979 and the appointment of Charan Singh as Prime Minister.
• He dissolved the Lok Sabha in 1979 on Charan Singh's advice, leading to the 1980 elections in which Indira Gandhi returned to power.

Distinctions:

• He is the only person to have been both Speaker of the Lok Sabha and President of India.
• He resigned as Speaker when he was elected President, and he followed the tradition of keeping the Speaker's office impartial by giving up party membership.

After presidency:

He retired to his village in Andhra Pradesh and died in 1996.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was President before him and died in office.
• ✗Giani Zail Singh succeeded him in 1982.

V.V. Giri was President from 1969 to 1974.