List of presidents of the Indian National Congress

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
Sonia Gandhi
since 10 August 2019
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]
Formation28 December 1885
First holderWomesh Chunder Bonnerjee (1885–1886)
WebsiteOfficial website
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After the party's foundation in December 1885, Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee 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 Legislative 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 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 since 2019.

List of party presidents

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

The pre-independence era (1901–1947)
List of presidents during 1901–1947
No. Year(s) of Presidency Name Portrait Place of Conference Reference(s)[12]
17 1901 Dinshaw Edulji Wacha Calcutta [23]
18 1902 Surendranath Banerjee Ahmedabad [20]
19 1903 Lalmohan Ghosh Madras [21]
20 1904 Henry John Stedman Cotton Bombay [24]
21 1905 Gopal Krishna Gokhale Banaras [21]
22 1906 Dadabhai Naoroji Calcutta [16]
23 1907 Rashbihari Ghosh Surat [21]
24 1908 Rashbihari Ghosh Madras [21]
25 1909 Madan Mohan Malaviya Lahore [21]
26 1910 William Wedderburn Allahabad [20]
27 1911 Bishan Narayan Dar Calcutta [21]
28 1912 Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar Bankipore [21]
29 1913 Nawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur Karachi [21]
30 1914 Bhupendra Nath Bose Madras [21]
31 1915 Satyendra Prasanno Sinha Bombay [22]
32 1916 Ambica Charan Mazumdar Lucknow [22]
33 1917 Annie Besant Calcutta [22]
34 1918 Madan Mohan Malaviya Delhi [21]
35 1918 Syed Hasan Imam Bombay (special session) [22]
36 1919 Motilal Nehru Amritsar [22]
37 1920 Lala Lajpat Rai Calcutta ( Special Session ) [22]
38 1920 C. Vijayaraghavachariar Nagpur [25]
39 1921 Hakim Ajmal Khan Ahmedabad [25]
40 1922 Chittaranjan Das Gaya [25]
41 1923 Mohammad Ali Jouhar Kakinada [25]
42 1923 Abul Kalam Azad Delhi (Special Session) [25]
43 1924 Mahatma Gandhi Belgaum [26]
44 1925 Sarojini Naidu Kanpur [25]
45 1926 S. Srinivasa Iyengar Guwahati [25]
46 1927 Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari Madras [25]
47 1928 Motilal Nehru Calcutta [22]
48 1929 Jawaharlal Nehru Lahore [25]
49 1930 Jawaharlal Nehru Karachi [25]
50 1931 Vallabhbhai Patel Karachi [25]
51 1932 Madan Mohan Malaviya Delhi [21]
52 1933 Nellie Sengupta Calcutta [27]
53 1934 Rajendra Prasad Bombay [28]
54 1935 Rajendra Prasad Lucknow [28]
55 1936 Jawaharlal Nehru Lucknow [25]
56 1937 Jawaharlal Nehru Faizpur [25]
57 1938 Subhas Chandra Bose Haripura [26]
[29]
58 1939 Subhas Chandra Bose Tripuri [26]
[29]
59 1939 (March) Rajendra Prasad Tewar, Madhya Pradesh [28]
60 1940–46 Abul Kalam Azad Ramgarh [25]
61 1946–47 J. B. Kripalani Meerut [30]

The post-independence era (1948–present)
List of presidents since independence
No. Year(s) of Presidency Name Portrait Place of Conference Reference(s)[12]
62 1948–1949 Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya Jaipur [30]
63 1950 Purushottam Das Tandon Nasik [30]
64 1951–1952 Jawaharlal Nehru Delhi [31]
[29]
65 1953 Jawaharlal Nehru Hyderabad [31]
[29]
66 1954 Jawaharlal Nehru Kalyani [31]
[29]
67 1955 U. N. Dhebar Avadi [21]
68 1956 U. N. Dhebar Amritsar [21]
69 1957 U. N. Dhebar Indore [21]
70 1958 U. N. Dhebar Gauhati [21]
71 1959 U. N. Dhebar Nagpur [21]
72 1959 Indira Gandhi Delhi (special session) [32]
[33]
73 1960 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Bangalore [30]
74 1961 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Bhavnagar [30]
75 1962–1963 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Patna [30]
76 1964 K. Kamaraj Bhubaneswar [30]
77 1965 K. Kamaraj Durgapur [30]
78 1966–1967 K. Kamaraj Jaipur [30]
79 1968 S. Nijalingappa Hyderabad [30]
80 1969 S. Nijalingappa Faridabad [30]
81 1970–1971 Jagjivan Ram Bombay [30]
82 1972–74 Shankar Dayal Sharma Calcutta [30]
83 1975–77 Devakanta Barua Chandigarh [30]
84 1978–83 Indira Gandhi New Delhi [32]
[33]
85 1983 Indira Gandhi Calcutta [32]
[33]
86 1985–1991 Rajiv Gandhi Bombay [34]
[35]
[36]
87 1992 P. V. Narasimha Rao Tirupati [21]
88 1993 P. V. Narasimha Rao Surajkund [21]
89 1994 P. V. Narasimha Rao Delhi [21]
90 1996–1998 Sitaram Kesri Calcutta [21]
91 1998–2001 Sonia Gandhi New Delhi [37]
[38]
92 2001–2004 Sonia Gandhi Bangalore [37]
[38]
93 2004–2006 Sonia Gandhi New Delhi [37]
[38]
94 2006–2010 Sonia Gandhi Hyderabad [37]
[38]
95 2010–2017 Sonia Gandhi New Delhi [37]
[38]
96 2017–2019 Rahul Gandhi New Delhi [39]
97 2019–Incumbent Sonia Gandhi Jaipur [37]
[38]

See also

References
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