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List of presidents of the Indian National Congress

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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.[1] 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).[2] 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.[2] 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.[3]

President of the Indian National Congress
Incumbent
Mallikarjun Kharge
since 26 October 2022 (2022-10-26)
Residence24 Akbar Road, New Delhi
AppointerCommittee consisting of members of the Indian National Congress from the National and State Committees
Term lengthno term limit
Constituting instrumentConstitution of the Indian National Congress[1]
PrecursorSonia Gandhi
Formation28 December 1885 (1885-12-28)
First holderWomesh Chandra Bonnerjee (1885–1886)
WebsiteOfficial website

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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6][7][8] 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).[9] 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.[10]

A total of 61 people have served as the president of the Indian National Congress since its formation.[11] 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,[12] in which Mallikarjun Kharge became the new president defeating Shashi Tharoor.[13]

List of party presidents edit

The founding years (1885–1900) edit

List of presidents during 1885–1900
No. Year(s) of presidency Leader Portrait Place of conference Reference(s)[14]
1 1885 Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee   Bombay [15]
[16]
[17]
2 1886 Dadabhai Naoroji   Calcutta [18]
3 1887 Badruddin Tyabji   Madras [19]
[20]
4 1888 George Yule   Allahabad [21]
5 1889 William Wedderburn   Bombay [22]
6 1890 Pherozeshah Mehta   Calcutta [22]
7 1891 Panapakkam Anandacharlu   Nagpur [23]
8 1892 Womesh Chandra Banerjee   Allahabad [15]
[16]
[17]
9 1893 Dadabhai Naoroji   Lahore [18]
10 1894 Alfred Webb   Madras [22]
11 1895 Surendranath Banerjee   Poona [22]
12 1896 Rahimtulla M. Sayani   Calcutta [22]
13 1897 C. Sankaran Nair   Amaravati [24]
14 1898 Anandamohan Bose   Madras [24]
15 1899 Romesh Chunder Dutt   Lucknow [24]
16 1900 N. G. Chandavarkar   Lahore [24]

The pre-independence era (1901–1947) edit

List of presidents during 1901–1947
No. Year(s) of presidency Name Portrait Place of conference Reference(s)[14]
17 1901 Dinshaw Edulji Wacha   Calcutta [25]
18 1902 Surendranath Banerjee   Ahmedabad [22]
19 1903 Lalmohan Ghosh Madras [23]
20 1904 Henry John Stedman Cotton   Bombay [26]
21 1905 Gopal Krishna Gokhale   Benares [23]
22 1906 Dadabhai Naoroji   Calcutta [18]
23 1907 Rashbihari Ghosh   Surat [23]
24 1908 Madras [23]
25 1909 Madan Mohan Malaviya   Lahore [23]
26 1910 William Wedderburn   Allahabad [22]
27 1911 Bishan Narayan Dar Calcutta [23]
28 1912 Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar   Bankipore [23]
29 1913 Nawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur Karachi [23]
30 1914 Bhupendra Nath Bose   Madras [23]
31 1915 Satyendra Prasanno Sinha   Bombay [24]
32 1916 Ambica Charan Mazumdar   Lucknow [24]
33 1917 Annie Besant   Calcutta [24]
34 1918 Madan Mohan Malaviya   Delhi [23]
35 1918 Syed Hasan Imam   Bombay (special session) [24]
36 1919 Motilal Nehru   Amritsar [24]
37 1920 Lala Lajpat Rai   Calcutta (Special Session) [24]
38 1920 C. Vijayaraghavachariar   Nagpur [27]
39 1921 Hakim Ajmal Khan   Ahmedabad [27]
40 1922 Chittaranjan Das   Gaya [27]
41 1923 Mohammad Ali Jauhar   Kakinada [27]
42 1923 Abul Kalam Azad   Delhi (Special Session) [27]
43 1924 Mahatma Gandhi   Belgaum [28]
44 1925 Sarojini Naidu   Kanpur [27]
45 1926 S. Srinivasa Iyengar   Guwahati [27]
46 1927 Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari   Madras [27]
47 1928 Motilal Nehru   Calcutta [24]
48 1929 Jawaharlal Nehru   Lahore [27]
49 1930 Karachi [27]
50 1931 Vallabhbhai Patel   Karachi [27]
51 1932 Madan Mohan Malaviya   Delhi [23]
52 1933 Nellie Sengupta   Calcutta [29]
53 1934 Rajendra Prasad   Bombay [30]
54 1935 Lucknow [30]
55 1936 Jawaharlal Nehru   Lucknow [27]
56 1937 Faizpur [27]
57 1938 Subhas Chandra Bose   Haripura [28]
[31]
58 1939 Tewar, Madhya Pradesh
(then Tripuri) 		[28]
[31]
59 1939 (March) Rajendra Prasad   Tewar, Madhya Pradesh
(then Tripuri) 		[30]
60 1940–46 Abul Kalam Azad   Ramgarh [27]
61 1946 (July-Sept) Jawaharlal Nehru   [32]
62 1946–47 J. B. Kripalani   Meerut [33]

The post-independence era (1948–present) edit

List of presidents since independence
No. Year(s) of Presidency Name Portrait Place of Conference Reference(s)[14]
62 1948–1949 Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya   Jaipur [33]
63 1950 Purushottam Das Tandon   Nashik [33]
64 1951–1952 Jawaharlal Nehru   Delhi [34]
[31]
65 1953 Hyderabad [34]
[31]
66 1954 Kalyani [34]
[31]
67 1955 U. N. Dhebar   Avadi [23]
68 1956 Amritsar [23]
69 1957 Indore [23]
70 1958 Gauhati [23]
71 1959 Nagpur [23]
72 1959 Indira Gandhi   Delhi (special session) [35]
[36]
73 1960 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy   Bangalore [33]
74 1961 Bhavnagar [33]
75 1962–1963 Patna [33]
76 1964 K. Kamaraj   Bhubaneswar [33]
77 1965 Durgapur [33]
78 1966–1967 Jaipur [33]
79 1968 S. Nijalingappa   Hyderabad [33]
80 1969 Faridabad [33]
81 1970–1971 Jagjivan Ram   Mumbai [33]
82 1972–74 Shankar Dayal Sharma   Calcutta [33]
83 1975–77 Devakanta Barua   Chandigarh [33]
84 1977–78 Kasu Brahmananda Reddy
 
 Chandigarh [37]
85 1978–83 Indira Gandhi   New Delhi [35]
[36]
85 1983 Calcutta [35]
[36]
86 1985–1991 Rajiv Gandhi   Bombay [38]
[39]
[40]
87 1992 P. V. Narasimha Rao   Tirupati [23]
88 1993 Surajkund [23]
89 1994 Delhi [23]
90 1996–1998 Sitaram Kesri   Calcutta [23]
91 1998–2001 Sonia Gandhi   New Delhi [41]
[42]
92 2001–2004 Bangalore [41]
[42]
93 2004–2006 New Delhi [41]
[42]
94 2006–2010 Hyderabad [41]
[42]
95 2010–2017 New Delhi [41]
[42]
96 2017–2019 Rahul Gandhi   New Delhi [43]
97 2019–2022 Sonia Gandhi   Jaipur [41]
[42]
98 2022–Incumbent Mallikarjun Kharge   New Delhi [44]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Constitution & Rules of the Indian National Congress" (PDF). Indian National Congress. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b C G, Manoj (3 February 2021). "Explained: a Congress president — how these polls are meant to be held, how it plays out". The Indian Express. Indian Express Group. Archived from the original on 5 March 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  3. ^ Kumar, Kedar Nath (1 January 1990). Political Parties in India, Their Ideology and Organisation. Mittal Publications. pp. 41–43. ISBN 978-81-7099-205-9.
  4. ^ Mondal, Manisha (29 December 2018). "Remembering WC Bonnerjee, the first president of Indian National Congress". Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  5. ^ Sanghvi, Vijay (2006). The Congress Indira to Sonia Gandhi. Delhi: Kalpaz Publications. p. 128. ISBN 978-81-7835-340-1. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  6. ^ Basu, Manisha (2 November 2016). The Rhetoric of Hindutva. Cambridge University Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-107-14987-8.
  7. ^ Statistical Report on General Elections, 1980 to the Seventh Lok Sabha (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  8. ^ "Postindependence: from dominance to decline". Britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica. 23 September 2020. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  9. ^ Chakravartty, Nikhil (31 January 1978). "Indira Gandhi installed as president of break-away faction of Congress Party". India Today. Living Media India Limited. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  10. ^ Deka, Kaushik (8 July 2019). "Goodbye, Rahul Gandhi?". India Today. Living Media India Limited. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  11. ^ "Indian National Congress: From 1885 till 2017, a brief history of past presidents". The Indian Express. Indian Express Group. 5 December 2017. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  12. ^ "Congress to elect new president on Oct 17, results on Oct 19 | India News - Times of India". The Times of India. 28 August 2022.
  13. ^ "Mallikarjun Kharge Is Chief - Congress Sticks To What It Knows". NDTV. 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  14. ^ a b c "Congress Sessions". All India Congress Committee. 6 February 2010. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  15. ^ a b Nanda, B. R. (1977). Gokhale: The Indian Moderates and the British Raj. Legacy Series. Princeton University Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-4008-7049-3. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2019. In 1874, he became Prime Minister of Baroda and was a member of the Legislative Council of Bombay (1885–88).2015
  16. ^ a b Mahmud, Sayed Jafar (1994). Pillars of Modern India, 1757–1947. APH Publishing. p. 19. ISBN 978-81-7024-586-5. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  17. ^ a b "W. C. Bonnerjee". open.ac.uk. Open University. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  18. ^ a b c Nanda, B. R. (2015) [1977]. Gokhale: The Indian Moderates and the British Raj. Legacy Series. Princeton University Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-4008-7049-3. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  19. ^ Anonymous (1926). Eminent Mussalmans (1 ed.). Madras: G.A. Natesan & Co. pp. 97–112. OCLC 462824439.
  20. ^ Tyabji, Badruddin. "Presidential speech to the Indian National Congress, 1887". columbia.edu. Columbia University. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  21. ^ Hall, Catherine; Sonya O. Rose (2006). At Home with the Empire: Metropolitan Culture and the Imperial World. Cambridge University Press. p. 281. ISBN 978-1-139-46009-5. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g Singh, Hemant (8 April 2021). "List of Sessions of Indian National Congress before Independence (1885–1947)". Jagran Josh. Dainik Jagran. Jagran Prakashan Limited. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  23. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "Dadabhai Naoroji to Nehru; Indira to Sonia: Profiles of Congress presidents". Hindustan Times. HT Media Ltd. 11 December 2017. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rangnekar, Prashant (11 December 2017). "All the Congress presidents: from family to foreigners". PTI. No. Outlook (Indian magazine). Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  25. ^ Sunavala, Nergish (25 January 2015). "Nobody learns Parsi history in schools, says historian". The Times of India. The Times Group. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
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  28. ^ a b c Nair, Parameswaran Thankappan (31 January 2021). "Gandhi – The Calcutta Connection". The Telegraph (Kolkata). ABP Group. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
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  31. ^ a b c d e Mukherjee, Rudrangshu (30 January 2021). "Not really Nehru, it was Gandhi and Congress 'Right' who made Bose resign as party president". ThePrint. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  32. ^ "Indian National Congress: From 1885 till 2017, a brief history of past presidents". The Indian Express. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  33. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Radhakrishnan, Sruthi (14 December 2017). "Presidents of Congress past: A look at the party's presidency since 1947". The Hindu. The Hindu Group. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
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  35. ^ a b c "Smt. Indira Gandhi". Prime Minister's Office (India). Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
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  39. ^ Mitra, Sumit (16 January 2014). "Count-down to centenary celebration of Indian National Congress in Bombay begins". India Today. Living Media India Limited. Archived from the original on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  40. ^ "Let the comparisons begin: Let the comparisons begin: Full text of Rajiv Gandhi's famous 1985 speech". India Today. Living Media India Limited. 21 January 2013. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  41. ^ a b c d e f "Sonia Gandhi named interim Congress president". Doordarshan. Prasar Bharti. 11 August 2019. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  42. ^ a b c d e f Jagannath, J. (24 August 2020). "Sonia Gandhi to continue as Congress president for now". Mint (newspaper). HT Media. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  43. ^ "Rahul Gandhi only leader who can take over as Congress president: Ripun Bora". The Hindu. The Hindu Group. 16 February 2021. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  44. ^ "LIVE: Shashi Tharoor concedes Congress president poll defeat, wishes Mallikarjun Kharge 'all success'". Hindustan Times. 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.

External links edit

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