 Deshmukh contested the Indian presidential election of 1969 as a candidate of the Swatantra Party and the Jana Sangh and won the third-highest number of first preference votes.Deshmukh married Rosina Arthur Wilcox in 1920 with whom he had a daughter, Primrose.After Rosina's death in 1949, Deshmukh married Durgabai in 1953 and they were married until her death in 1981.