List of presidents of the Indian National Congress facts for kids
Quick facts for kids President of the Indian National Congress |
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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 |
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.
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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.
No. | Year(s) of presidency | Leader | Portrait | Place of conference | Reference(s) |
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1 | December 1885 | Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee | ![]() |
Bombay | |
2 | December 1886 | Dadabhai Naoroji | ![]() |
Calcutta | |
3 | December 1887 | Badruddin Tyabji | ![]() |
Madras | |
4 | December 1888 | George Yule | ![]() |
Allahabad | |
5 | December 1889 | William Wedderburn | ![]() |
Bombay | |
6 | December 1890 | Pherozeshah Mehta | ![]() |
Calcutta | |
7 | December 1891 | Panapakkam Anandacharlu | ![]() |
Nagpur | |
8 | December 1892 | Womesh Chandra Banerjee | ![]() |
Allahabad | |
9 | December 1893 | Dadabhai Naoroji | ![]() |
Lahore | |
10 | December 1894 | Alfred Webb | ![]() |
Madras | |
11 | December 1895 | Surendranath Banerjee | ![]() |
Poona | |
12 | December 1896 | Rahimtulla M. Sayani | ![]() |
Calcutta | |
13 | December 1897 | C. Sankaran Nair | ![]() |
Amaravati | |
14 | December 1898 | Anandamohan Bose | Madras | ||
15 | December 1899 | Romesh Chunder Dutt | ![]() |
Lucknow | |
16 | December 1900 | 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.
No. | Year(s) of presidency | Name | Portrait | Place of conference | Reference(s) |
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17 | December 1901 | Dinshaw Edulji Wacha | ![]() |
Calcutta | |
18 | December 1902 | Surendranath Banerjee | ![]() |
Ahmedabad | |
19 | December 1903 | Lalmohan Ghosh | Madras | ||
20 | December 1904 | Henry John Stedman Cotton | ![]() |
Bombay | |
21 | December 1905 | Gopal Krishna Gokhale | ![]() |
Benares | |
22 | December 1906 | Dadabhai Naoroji | ![]() |
Calcutta | |
23 | December 1907 | Rashbihari Ghosh | ![]() |
Surat | |
24 | December 1908 | Madras | |||
25 | December 1909 | Madan Mohan Malaviya | ![]() |
Lahore | |
26 | December 1910 | William Wedderburn | ![]() |
Allahabad | |
27 | December 1911 | Bishan Narayan Dar | Calcutta | ||
28 | December 1912 | Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar | ![]() |
Bankipore | |
29 | December 1913 | Nawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur | Karachi | ||
30 | April 1914 | Bhupendra Nath Bose | ![]() |
Madras | |
31 | December 1915 | Satyendra Prasanno Sinha | ![]() |
Bombay | |
32 | December 1916 | Ambica Charan Mazumdar | ![]() |
Lucknow | |
33 | December 1917 | Annie Besant | ![]() |
Calcutta | |
34 | August 1918 | Syed Hasan Imam | ![]() |
Bombay (special session) | |
35 | December 1918 | Madan Mohan Malaviya | ![]() |
Delhi | |
36 | December 1919 | Motilal Nehru | ![]() |
Amritsar | |
37 | 1920 | Lala Lajpat Rai | ![]() |
Calcutta (Special Session) | |
38 | December 1920 | C. Vijayaraghavachariar | ![]() |
Nagpur | |
39 | December 1921 | Hakim Ajmal Khan | ![]() |
Ahmedabad | |
40 | December 1922 | Chittaranjan Das | Gaya | ||
41 | 1923 | Mohammad Ali Jauhar | ![]() |
Kakinada | |
42 | September 1923 | Abul Kalam Azad | ![]() |
Delhi (Special Session) | |
43 | December 1924 | Mahatma Gandhi | ![]() |
Belgaum | |
44 | April 1925 | Sarojini Naidu | ![]() |
Kanpur | |
45 | December 1926 | S. Srinivasa Iyengar | ![]() |
Guwahati | |
46 | December 1927 | Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari | ![]() |
Madras | |
47 | 1928 | Motilal Nehru | ![]() |
Calcutta | |
48 | 1929 | Jawaharlal Nehru | ![]() |
Lahore | |
49 | 1930 | Karachi | |||
50 | 1931 | Vallabhbhai Patel | ![]() |
Karachi | |
51 | 1932 | Madan Mohan Malaviya | ![]() |
Delhi | |
52 | 1933 | Nellie Sengupta | ![]() |
Calcutta | |
53 | 1934 | Rajendra Prasad | ![]() |
Bombay | |
54 | 1935 | Lucknow | |||
55 | 1936 | Jawaharlal Nehru | ![]() |
Lucknow | |
56 | 1937 | Faizpur | |||
57 | 1938 | Subhas Chandra Bose | ![]() |
Haripura | |
58 | 1939 | Tewar, Madhya Pradesh (then Tripuri) |
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59 | 1939 (March) | Rajendra Prasad | ![]() |
Tewar, Madhya Pradesh (then Tripuri) |
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60 | 1940–46
Duration of World war 2 |
Abul Kalam Azad | ![]() |
Ramgarh | |
61 | 1946 (July-Sept) | Jawaharlal Nehru | ![]() |
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62 | 1946 | 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.
No. | Year(s) of Presidency | Name | Portrait | Place of Conference | Reference(s) |
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64 | 1948 | Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya | ![]() |
Jaipur | |
65 | 1949 | Jaipur | |||
66 | 1950 | Purushottam Das Tandon | ![]() |
Nashik | |
67 | 1951 | Jawaharlal Nehru | ![]() |
Delhi | |
68 | 1952 | Delhi | |||
69 | 1953 | Hyderabad | |||
70 | 1954 | Kalyani | |||
71 | 1955 | U. N. Dhebar | ![]() |
Avadi | |
72 | 1956 | Amritsar | |||
73 | 1957 | Indore | |||
74 | 1958 | Gauhati | |||
75 | 1959 | Nagpur | |||
76 | 1959 | Indira Gandhi | ![]() |
Delhi (special session) | |
73 | 1960 | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | ![]() |
Bengaluru | |
74 | 1961 | Bhavnagar | |||
75 | 1962–1963 | Patna | |||
76 | 1964 | K. Kamaraj | ![]() |
Bhubaneswar | |
77 | 1965 | Durgapur | |||
78 | 1966–1967 | Jaipur | |||
79 | 1968 | S. Nijalingappa | ![]() |
Hyderabad | |
80 | 1969 | Faridabad | |||
81 | 1970–1971 | Jagjivan Ram | ![]() |
Mumbai | |
82 | 1972–74 | Shankar Dayal Sharma | ![]() |
Kolkata | |
83 | 1975–77 | Devakanta Barua | ![]() |
Chandigarh | |
84 | 1977–78 | Kasu Brahmananda Reddy | ![]() |
Chandigarh | |
85 | 1978–83 | Indira Gandhi | ![]() |
New Delhi | |
85 | 1983 | Kolkata | |||
86 | 1985–1991 | Rajiv Gandhi | ![]() |
Mumbai | |
87 | 1992 | P. V. Narasimha Rao | ![]() |
Tirupati | |
88 | 1993 | Surajkund | |||
89 | 1994 | Delhi | |||
90 | 1996–1998 | Sitaram Kesri | ![]() |
Kolkata | |
91 | 1998–2001 | Sonia Gandhi | ![]() |
New Delhi | |
92 | 2001–2004 | Bengaluru | |||
93 | 2004–2006 | New Delhi | |||
94 | 2006–2010 | Hyderabad | |||
95 | 2010–2017 | New Delhi | |||
96 | 2017–2019 | Rahul 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