Quick facts for kids President of the Indian National Congress |
|
Incumbent
Mallikarjun Kharge
since 26 October 2022 (2022-10-26)
|
Residence |
24 Akbar Road, New Delhi |
Appointer |
Committee consisting of members of the Indian National Congress from the National and State Committees |
Term length |
no term limit |
Constituting instrument |
Constitution of the Indian National Congress |
Precursor |
Sonia Gandhi |
Formation |
28 December 1885 (1885-12-28) |
First holder |
Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee (1885–1886) |
The president of the Indian National Congress is the chief executive of the Indian National Congress (INC), one of the principal political parties in India. Constitutionally, the president is elected by an electoral college composed of members drawn from the Pradesh Congress Committees and members of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). In the event of any emergency because of any cause such as the death or resignation of the president elected as above, the most senior general secretary discharges the routine functions of the president until the Working Committee appoints a provisional president pending the election of a regular president by the AICC. The president of the party has effectively been the party's national leader, head of the party's organisation, head of the Working Committee, the chief spokesman, and all chief Congress committees.
After the party's foundation in December 1885, Wyomesh Chandra Banerjee became its first president. From 1885 to 1933, the presidency had a term of one year only. From 1933 onwards, there was no such fixed term for the president. During Jawaharlal Nehru's premiership, he rarely held the Presidency of INC, even though he was always head of the Parliamentary Party. Despite being a party with a structure, Congress under Indira Gandhi did not hold any organisational elections after 1978. In 1978, Gandhi split from the INC and formed a new opposition party, popularly called Congress (I), which the national election commission declared to be the real Indian National Congress for the 1980 general election. Gandhi institutionalised the practice of having the same person as the Congress president and the prime minister of India after the formation of Congress (I). Her successors Rajiv Gandhi and P. V. Narasimha Rao also continued that practice. Nonetheless, in 2004, when the Congress was voted back into power, Manmohan Singh became the first and only prime minister not to be the president of the party since establishment of the practice of the president holding both positions.
A total of 61 people have served as the president of the Indian National Congress since its formation. Sonia Gandhi is the longest serving president of the party, having held the office for over twenty years from 1998 to 2017 and from 2019 to 2022. The latest election of president was held on 17 October 2022, in which Mallikarjun Kharge became the new president defeating Shashi Tharoor in the 2022 Indian National Congress presidential election.
List of party presidents
The founding years (1885–1900)
List of presidents during 1885–1900
No. |
Year(s) of presidency |
Leader |
Portrait |
Place of conference |
Reference(s) |
1 |
December 1885 |
Bonnerjee, Womesh ChunderWomesh Chunder Bonnerjee |
|
Bombay |
|
2 |
December 1886 |
Naoroji, DadabhaiDadabhai Naoroji |
|
Calcutta |
|
3 |
December 1887 |
Tyabji, BadruddinBadruddin Tyabji |
|
Madras |
|
4 |
December 1888 |
Yule, GeorgeGeorge Yule |
|
Allahabad |
|
5 |
December 1889 |
Wedderburn, WilliamWilliam Wedderburn |
|
Bombay |
|
6 |
December 1890 |
Mehta, PherozeshahPherozeshah Mehta |
|
Calcutta |
|
7 |
December 1891 |
Anandacharlu, PanapakkamPanapakkam Anandacharlu |
|
Nagpur |
|
8 |
December 1892 |
Womesh Chandra Banerjee |
|
Allahabad |
|
9 |
December 1893 |
Dadabhai Naoroji |
|
Lahore |
|
10 |
December 1894 |
Webb, AlfredAlfred Webb |
|
Madras |
|
11 |
December 1895 |
Banerjee, SurendranathSurendranath Banerjee |
|
Poona |
|
12 |
December 1896 |
Sayani, Rahimtulla M.Rahimtulla M. Sayani |
|
Calcutta |
|
13 |
December 1897 |
Nair, C. SankaranC. Sankaran Nair |
|
Amaravati |
|
14 |
December 1898 |
Bose, AnandamohanAnandamohan Bose |
|
Madras |
|
15 |
December 1899 |
Dutt, Romesh ChunderRomesh Chunder Dutt |
|
Lucknow |
|
16 |
December 1900 |
Chandavarkar, N. G.N. G. Chandavarkar |
|
Lahore |
|
The pre-independence era (1901–1947)
List of presidents during 1901–1947
No. |
Year(s) of presidency |
Name |
Portrait |
Place of conference |
Reference(s) |
17 |
December 1901 |
Wacha, Dinshaw EduljiDinshaw Edulji Wacha |
|
Calcutta |
|
18 |
December 1902 |
Banerjee, SurendranathSurendranath Banerjee |
|
Ahmedabad |
|
19 |
December 1903 |
Ghosh, LalmohanLalmohan Ghosh |
|
Madras |
|
20 |
December 1904 |
Cotton, Henry John StedmanHenry John Stedman Cotton |
|
Bombay |
|
21 |
December 1905 |
Gokhale, Gopal KrishnaGopal Krishna Gokhale |
|
Benares |
|
22 |
December 1906 |
Naoroji, DadabhaiDadabhai Naoroji |
|
Calcutta |
|
23 |
December 1907 |
Ghosh, RashbihariRashbihari Ghosh |
|
Surat |
|
24 |
December 1908 |
Madras |
|
25 |
December 1909 |
Malaviya, Madan MohanMadan Mohan Malaviya |
|
Lahore |
|
26 |
December 1910 |
Wedderburn, WilliamWilliam Wedderburn |
|
Allahabad |
|
27 |
December 1911 |
Dar, Bishan NarayanBishan Narayan Dar |
|
Calcutta |
|
28 |
December 1912 |
Mudholkar, Raghunath NarasinhaRaghunath Narasinha Mudholkar |
|
Bankipore |
|
29 |
December 1913 |
Bahadur, Nawab Syed MuhammadNawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur |
|
Karachi |
|
30 |
April 1914 |
Bose, Bhupendra NathBhupendra Nath Bose |
|
Madras |
|
31 |
December 1915 |
Sinha, Satyendra PrasannoSatyendra Prasanno Sinha |
|
Bombay |
|
32 |
December 1916 |
Mazumdar, Ambica CharanAmbica Charan Mazumdar |
|
Lucknow |
|
33 |
December 1917 |
Besant, AnnieAnnie Besant |
|
Calcutta |
|
34 |
August 1918 |
Imam, Syed HasanSyed Hasan Imam |
|
Bombay (special session) |
|
35 |
December 1918 |
Malaviya, Madan MohanMadan Mohan Malaviya |
|
Delhi |
|
36 |
December 1919 |
Nehru, MotilalMotilal Nehru |
|
Amritsar |
|
37 |
1920 |
Rai, Lala LajpatLala Lajpat Rai |
|
Calcutta (Special Session) |
|
38 |
December 1920 |
Vijayaraghavachariar, C.C. Vijayaraghavachariar |
|
Nagpur |
|
39 |
December 1921 |
Khan, Hakim AjmalHakim Ajmal Khan |
|
Ahmedabad |
|
40 |
December 1922 |
Das, ChittaranjanChittaranjan Das |
|
Gaya |
|
41 |
1923 |
Jauhar, Mohammad AliMohammad Ali Jauhar |
|
Kakinada |
|
42 |
September 1923 |
Azad, Abul KalamAbul Kalam Azad |
|
Delhi (Special Session) |
|
43 |
December 1924 |
Gandhi, MahatmaMahatma Gandhi |
|
Belgaum |
|
44 |
April 1925 |
Naidu, SarojiniSarojini Naidu |
|
Kanpur |
|
45 |
December 1926 |
Iyengar, S. SrinivasaS. Srinivasa Iyengar |
|
Guwahati |
|
46 |
December 1927 |
Ansari, Mukhtar AhmedMukhtar Ahmed Ansari |
|
Madras |
|
47 |
1928 |
Nehru, MotilalMotilal Nehru |
|
Calcutta |
|
48 |
1929 |
Nehru, JawaharlalJawaharlal Nehru |
|
Lahore |
|
49 |
1930 |
Karachi |
|
50 |
1931 |
Patel, VallabhbhaiVallabhbhai Patel |
|
Karachi |
|
51 |
1932 |
Malaviya, Madan MohanMadan Mohan Malaviya |
|
Delhi |
|
52 |
1933 |
Sengupta, NellieNellie Sengupta |
|
Calcutta |
|
53 |
1934 |
Prasad, RajendraRajendra Prasad |
|
Bombay |
|
54 |
1935 |
Lucknow |
|
55 |
1936 |
Nehru, JawaharlalJawaharlal Nehru |
|
Lucknow |
|
56 |
1937 |
Faizpur |
|
57 |
1938 |
Bose, Subhas ChandraSubhas Chandra Bose |
|
Haripura |
|
58 |
1939 |
Tewar, Madhya Pradesh
(then Tripuri) |
|
59 |
1939 (March) |
Prasad, RajendraRajendra Prasad |
|
Tewar, Madhya Pradesh
(then Tripuri) |
|
60 |
1940–46
Duration of World war 2
|
Azad, Abul KalamAbul Kalam Azad |
|
Ramgarh |
|
61 |
1946 (July-Sept) |
Jawaharlal Nehru |
|
|
|
62 |
1946 |
Kripalani, J. B.J. B. Kripalani |
|
Meerut |
|
63 |
1947 |
The post-independence era (1948–present)
List of presidents since independence
No. |
Year(s) of Presidency |
Name |
Portrait |
Place of Conference |
Reference(s) |
64 |
1948 |
Sitaramayya, Bhogaraju PattabhiBhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya |
|
Jaipur |
|
65 |
1949 |
Jaipur |
66 |
1950 |
Tandon, Purushottam DasPurushottam Das Tandon |
|
Nashik |
|
67 |
1951 |
Nehru, JawaharlalJawaharlal Nehru |
|
Delhi |
|
68 |
1952 |
Delhi |
69 |
1953 |
Hyderabad |
|
70 |
1954 |
Kalyani |
|
71 |
1955 |
Dhebar, U. N.U. N. Dhebar |
|
Avadi |
|
72 |
1956 |
Amritsar |
|
73 |
1957 |
Indore |
|
74 |
1958 |
Gauhati |
|
75 |
1959 |
Nagpur |
|
76 |
1959 |
Gandhi, IndiraIndira Gandhi |
|
Delhi (special session) |
|
73 |
1960 |
Reddy, Neelam SanjivaNeelam Sanjiva Reddy |
|
Bengaluru |
|
74 |
1961 |
Bhavnagar |
|
75 |
1962–1963 |
Patna |
|
76 |
1964 |
Kamaraj, K.K. Kamaraj |
|
Bhubaneswar |
|
77 |
1965 |
Durgapur |
|
78 |
1966–1967 |
Jaipur |
|
79 |
1968 |
Nijalingappa, S.S. Nijalingappa |
|
Hyderabad |
|
80 |
1969 |
Faridabad |
|
81 |
1970–1971 |
Ram, JagjivanJagjivan Ram |
|
Mumbai |
|
82 |
1972–74 |
Sharma, Shankar DayalShankar Dayal Sharma |
|
Kolkata |
|
83 |
1975–77 |
Barua, DevakantaDevakanta Barua |
|
Chandigarh |
|
84 |
1977–78 |
Reddy, Kasu BrahmanandaKasu Brahmananda Reddy |
|
Chandigarh |
|
85 |
1978–83 |
Indira Gandhi |
|
New Delhi |
|
85 |
1983 |
Kolkata |
|
86 |
1985–1991 |
Gandhi, RajivRajiv Gandhi |
|
Mumbai |
|
87 |
1992 |
Rao, P. V. NarasimhaP. V. Narasimha Rao |
|
Tirupati |
|
88 |
1993 |
Surajkund |
|
89 |
1994 |
Delhi |
|
90 |
1996–1998 |
Kesri, SitaramSitaram Kesri |
|
Kolkata |
|
91 |
1998–2001 |
Gandhi, SoniaSonia Gandhi |
|
New Delhi |
|
92 |
2001–2004 |
Bengaluru |
|
93 |
2004–2006 |
New Delhi |
|
94 |
2006–2010 |
Hyderabad |
|
95 |
2010–2017 |
New Delhi |
|
96 |
2017–2019 |
Gandhi, RahulRahul Gandhi |
|
New Delhi |
|
97 |
2019–2022 |
Sonia Gandhi |
|
Jaipur |
|
98 |
2022–Incumbent |
Mallikarjun Kharge |
|
New Delhi |
|
See also
- List of chief ministers from the Indian National Congress
- List of state presidents of the Indian National Congress
- List of presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party