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President of the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress hand logo.svg
Mallikarjun Kharge.jpg
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 top leader of the Indian National Congress (INC). The INC is one of the main political parties in India. This leader is chosen by a special group of people. These people come from different parts of the party across India.

If something unexpected happens, like the president leaving office, a senior leader steps in. This person handles daily tasks until a new president is elected. The party president is like the main boss of the party. They lead the party's groups and speak for the party.

The Indian National Congress started in December 1885. Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee was the first president. From 1885 to 1933, a president served for only one year. After 1933, there was no set time limit for how long a president could serve.

During Jawaharlal Nehru's time as Prime Minister, he was not often the party president. But he was always the head of the party in Parliament. Later, under Indira Gandhi, the party did not hold many elections for its leaders. In 1978, Indira Gandhi started a new party. This new party was later recognized as the real Indian National Congress.

Indira Gandhi made it a common practice for the same person to be both the Congress president and the Prime Minister of India. Her successors, Rajiv Gandhi and P. V. Narasimha Rao, followed this idea. However, in 2004, when Congress won power again, Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister. He was the first Prime Minister from Congress who was not also the party president.

Since the party began, 61 people have been president. Sonia Gandhi has been the president for the longest time. She held the job for over twenty years. The most recent election for president was on October 17, 2022. Mallikarjun Kharge won this election. He became the new president, beating Shashi Tharoor.

Leaders of the Party

More than 60 people have led the Indian National Congress since it started. Here are the lists of these important leaders.

Early Leaders (1885–1900)

This section shows the first leaders of the Indian National Congress. They served during the party's founding years.

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 An image of Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee. Bombay

2 December 1886 Naoroji, DadabhaiDadabhai Naoroji An image of Dadabhai Naoroji. Calcutta
3 December 1887 Tyabji, BadruddinBadruddin Tyabji An image of Badruddin Tyabji. Madras
4 December 1888 Yule, GeorgeGeorge Yule An image of George Yule. Allahabad
5 December 1889 Wedderburn, WilliamWilliam Wedderburn An image of William Wedderburn. Bombay
6 December 1890 Mehta, PherozeshahPherozeshah Mehta An image of Pherozesha Mehta. Calcutta
7 December 1891 Anandacharlu, PanapakkamPanapakkam Anandacharlu Hon'ble Mr P Ananda Charlu.jpg Nagpur
8 December 1892 Womesh Chandra Banerjee An image of Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee. Allahabad

9 December 1893 Dadabhai Naoroji An image of Dadabhai Naoroji. Lahore
10 December 1894 Webb, AlfredAlfred Webb An image of Alfred Webb. Madras
11 December 1895 Banerjee, SurendranathSurendranath Banerjee An image of Surendranath Banerjee. Poona
12 December 1896 Sayani, Rahimtulla M.Rahimtulla M. Sayani An image of Rahimtulla M. Sayani. Calcutta
13 December 1897 Nair, C. SankaranC. Sankaran Nair An image of C Sankaran Nair. Amaravati
14 December 1898 Bose, AnandamohanAnandamohan Bose An image of Anandamohan Bose. Madras
15 December 1899 Dutt, Romesh ChunderRomesh Chunder Dutt An image of Romesh Chunder Dutt. Lucknow
16 December 1900 Chandavarkar, N. G.N. G. Chandavarkar An image of N. G. Chandavarkar. Lahore

Leaders Before Independence (1901–1947)

This section lists the presidents who led the Indian National Congress during the time India was fighting for its freedom.

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 An image of Dinshaw Edulji Wacha. Calcutta
18 December 1902 Banerjee, SurendranathSurendranath Banerjee An image of Surendranath Banerjee. Ahmedabad
19 December 1903 Ghosh, LalmohanLalmohan Ghosh Madras
20 December 1904 Cotton, Henry John StedmanHenry John Stedman Cotton An image of Henry Cotton. Bombay
21 December 1905 Gokhale, Gopal KrishnaGopal Krishna Gokhale An image of Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Benares
22 December 1906 Naoroji, DadabhaiDadabhai Naoroji An image of Dadabhai Naoroji. Calcutta
23 December 1907 Ghosh, RashbihariRashbihari Ghosh An image of Rashbihari Ghosh. Surat
24 December 1908 Madras
25 December 1909 Malaviya, Madan MohanMadan Mohan Malaviya An image of Madan Mohan Malaviya. Lahore
26 December 1910 Wedderburn, WilliamWilliam Wedderburn An image of William Wedderburn. Allahabad
27 December 1911 Dar, Bishan NarayanBishan Narayan Dar Calcutta
28 December 1912 Mudholkar, Raghunath NarasinhaRaghunath Narasinha Mudholkar An image of Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar. Bankipore
29 December 1913 Bahadur, Nawab Syed MuhammadNawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur Karachi
30 April 1914 Bose, Bhupendra NathBhupendra Nath Bose Bhupendranath Bose.jpg Madras
31 December 1915 Sinha, Satyendra PrasannoSatyendra Prasanno Sinha An image of Satyendra Prasanno Sinha. Bombay
32 December 1916 Mazumdar, Ambica CharanAmbica Charan Mazumdar An image of Ambica Charan Mazumdar. Lucknow
33 December 1917 Besant, AnnieAnnie Besant An image of Annie Besant. Calcutta
34 August 1918 Imam, Syed HasanSyed Hasan Imam An image of Syed Hasan Imam. Bombay (special session)
35 December 1918 Malaviya, Madan MohanMadan Mohan Malaviya An image of Madan Mohan Malaviya. Delhi
36 December 1919 Nehru, MotilalMotilal Nehru An image of Motilal Nehru. Amritsar
37 1920 Rai, Lala LajpatLala Lajpat Rai An image of Lala Lajpat Rai. Calcutta (Special Session)
38 December 1920 Vijayaraghavachariar, C.C. Vijayaraghavachariar An image of C. Vijayaraghavachariar. Nagpur
39 December 1921 Khan, Hakim AjmalHakim Ajmal Khan An image of Hakim Ajmal Khan. Ahmedabad
40 December 1922 Das, ChittaranjanChittaranjan Das An image of Chittaranjan Das. Gaya
41 1923 Jauhar, Mohammad AliMohammad Ali Jauhar An image of Mohammad Ali Jouhar. Kakinada
42 September 1923 Azad, Abul KalamAbul Kalam Azad An image of Abul Kalam Azad. Delhi (Special Session)
43 December 1924 Gandhi, MahatmaMahatma Gandhi An image of Mahatma Gandhi. Belgaum
44 April 1925 Naidu, SarojiniSarojini Naidu An image of Sarojini Naidu. Kanpur
45 December 1926 Iyengar, S. SrinivasaS. Srinivasa Iyengar An image of S. Srinivasa Iyengar. Guwahati
46 December 1927 Ansari, Mukhtar AhmedMukhtar Ahmed Ansari An image of Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari. Madras
47 1928 Nehru, MotilalMotilal Nehru An image of Motilal Nehru. Calcutta
48 1929 Nehru, JawaharlalJawaharlal Nehru An image of Jawaharlal Nehru. Lahore
49 1930 Karachi
50 1931 Patel, VallabhbhaiVallabhbhai Patel An image of Vallabhbhai Patel. Karachi
51 1932 Malaviya, Madan MohanMadan Mohan Malaviya An image of Madan Mohan Malaviya. Delhi
52 1933 Sengupta, NellieNellie Sengupta An image of Nellie Sengupta. Calcutta
53 1934 Prasad, RajendraRajendra Prasad An image of Rajendra Prasad. Bombay
54 1935 Lucknow
55 1936 Nehru, JawaharlalJawaharlal Nehru An image of Jawaharlal Nehru. Lucknow
56 1937 Faizpur
57 1938 Bose, Subhas ChandraSubhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose Haripura
58 1939 Tewar, Madhya Pradesh
(then Tripuri)

59 1939 (March) Prasad, RajendraRajendra Prasad An image of Rajendra Prasad. Tewar, Madhya Pradesh
(then Tripuri)
60 1940–46

Duration of World war 2

Azad, Abul KalamAbul Kalam Azad An image of Abul Kalam Azad. Ramgarh
61 1946 (July-Sept) Jawaharlal Nehru Jnehru.jpg
62 1946 Kripalani, J. B.J. B. Kripalani An image of J. B. Kripalani. Meerut
63 1947

Leaders After Independence (1948–Present)

This section lists the presidents who have led the Indian National Congress since India became an independent country.

List of presidents since independence
No. Year(s) of Presidency Name Portrait Place of Conference Reference(s)
64 1948 Sitaramayya, Bhogaraju PattabhiBhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya An image of Pattabhi Sitaraimayya. Jaipur
65 1949 Jaipur
66 1950 Tandon, Purushottam DasPurushottam Das Tandon An image of Purushottam Das Tandon. Nashik
67 1951 Nehru, JawaharlalJawaharlal Nehru An image of Jawaharlal Nehru. Delhi
68 1952 Delhi
69 1953 Hyderabad
70 1954 Kalyani
71 1955 Dhebar, U. N.U. N. Dhebar An image of U. N. Dhebar. Avadi
72 1956 Amritsar
73 1957 Indore
74 1958 Gauhati
75 1959 Nagpur
76 1959 Gandhi, IndiraIndira Gandhi An image of Indira Gandhi. Delhi (special session)
73 1960 Reddy, Neelam SanjivaNeelam Sanjiva Reddy An image of Neelam Sanjiva Reddy. Bengaluru
74 1961 Bhavnagar
75 1962–1963 Patna
76 1964 Kamaraj, K.K. Kamaraj An image of K. Kamaraj. Bhubaneswar
77 1965 Durgapur
78 1966–1967 Jaipur
79 1968 Nijalingappa, S.S. Nijalingappa An image of S. Nijalingappa. Hyderabad
80 1969 Faridabad
81 1970–1971 Ram, JagjivanJagjivan Ram An image of Jagjivan Ram. Mumbai
82 1972–74 Sharma, Shankar DayalShankar Dayal Sharma An image of Shankar Dayal Sharma. Kolkata
83 1975–77 Barua, DevakantaDevakanta Barua An image of Devakanta Barua. Chandigarh
84 1977–78 Reddy, Kasu BrahmanandaKasu Brahmananda Reddy An image of Kasu Brahmananda Reddy Chandigarh
85 1978–83 Indira Gandhi An image of Indira Gandhi. New Delhi
85 1983 Kolkata
86 1985–1991 Gandhi, RajivRajiv Gandhi An image of Rajiv Gandhi. Mumbai

87 1992 Rao, P. V. NarasimhaP. V. Narasimha Rao Visit of Narasimha Rao, Indian Minister for Foreign Affairs, to the CEC (cropped).jpg Tirupati
88 1993 Surajkund
89 1994 Delhi
90 1996–1998 Kesri, SitaramSitaram Kesri Sita Ram Kesari(cropped).jpg Kolkata
91 1998–2001 Gandhi, SoniaSonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi 2014 (cropped).jpg 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 An image of Rahul Gandhi. New Delhi
97 2019–2022 Sonia Gandhi An image of Sonia Gandhi. Jaipur
98 2022–Incumbent Mallikarjun Kharge Mallikarjun Kharge.jpg 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
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