List of national presidents of the Indian National Congress
President of the Indian National Congress | |
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since 26 October 2022 | |
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[1] |
Precursor | Sonia Gandhi |
Formation | 28 December 1885 |
First holder | Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee (1885–1886) |
Website | Official website |
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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]
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
The founding years (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 | Umesh 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)
The post-independence era (1948–present)
No. | Year(s) of Presidency | Name | Portrait | Place of Conference | Reference(s)[14] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
62 | 1948–1949 | Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya | Jaipur | [32] | |
63 | 1950 | Purushottam Das Tandon | Nashik | [32] | |
64 | 1951–1952 | Jawaharlal Nehru | Delhi | [33] [31] | |
65 | 1953 | Hyderabad | [33] [31] | ||
66 | 1954 | Kalyani | [33] [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) | [34] [35] | |
73 | 1960 | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | Bangalore | [32] | |
74 | 1961 | Bhavnagar | [32] | ||
75 | 1962–1963 | Patna | [32] | ||
76 | 1964 | K. Kamaraj | Bhubaneswar | [32] | |
77 | 1965 | Durgapur | [32] | ||
78 | 1966–1967 | Jaipur | [32] | ||
79 | 1968 | S. Nijalingappa | Hyderabad | [32] | |
80 | 1969 | Faridabad | [32] | ||
81 | 1970–1971 | Jagjivan Ram | Mumbai | [32] | |
82 | 1972–74 | Shankar Dayal Sharma | Calcutta | [32] | |
83 | 1975–77 | Devakanta Barua | Chandigarh | [32] | |
83 | 1977–78 | Chandigarh | [32] | ||
84 | 1978–83 | Indira Gandhi | New Delhi | [34] [35] | |
85 | 1983 | Calcutta | [34] [35] | ||
86 | 1985–1991 | Rajiv Gandhi | Bombay | [36] [37] [38] | |
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 | [39] [40] | |
92 | 2001–2004 | Bangalore | [39] [40] | ||
93 | 2004–2006 | New Delhi | [39] [40] | ||
94 | 2006–2010 | Hyderabad | [39] [40] | ||
95 | 2010–2017 | New Delhi | [39] [40] | ||
96 | 2017–2019 | Rahul Gandhi | An image of Rahul Gandhi. | New Delhi | [41] |
97 | 2019–2022 | Sonia Gandhi | Jaipur | [39] [40] | |
98 | 2022–Incumbent | Mallikarjun Kharge | New Delhi | [42] |
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
References
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- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
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- ^ 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.
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- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
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- ^ "Congress to elect new president on Oct 17, results on Oct 19 | India News - Times of India". The Times of India.
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In 1874, he became Prime Minister of Baroda and was a member of the Legislative Council of Bombay (1885–88).2015
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- ^ 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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- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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.
- ^ a b c "Shri Jawaharlal Nehru". Prime Minister's Office (India). Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
- ^ a b c "Smt. Indira Gandhi". Prime Minister's Office (India). Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
- ^ a b c "Who Was Indira Gandhi". Business Standard. ABP Group. Business Standard Private Limited. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
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- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
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External links
- All India Congress Committee – AICC Official Indian National Congress website
- Sessions List