The President of the Indian National Congress is the
chief executive
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
(INC), one of the principal political parties in India.
Constitutionally, the president is elected by an electoral college composed of members drawn from the
Pradesh Congress Committee
The elected committee that directs the Indian National Congress in an Indian state is known as Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). It is elected by card-holding members of the Congress and in turn elects state president and delegates to the All I ...
s and members of the
All India Congress Committee (AICC).
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.
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.
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. During
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
'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. 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.
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). 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.
A total of 61 people have served as the president of the Indian National Congress since its formation.
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, in which
Mallikarjun Kharge became the new President defeating
Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor (; ; born 9 March 1956 in London, England ) is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat and politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, ...
.
List of party presidents
The founding years (1885–1900)
The pre-independence era (1901–1947)
The post-independence era (1948–present)
See also
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List of chief ministers from the Indian National Congress
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List of state presidents of the Indian National Congress
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List of presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party
References
External links
All India Congress Committee – AICCOfficial
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
website
Sessions List
{{featured list
Presidents of the Indian National Congress
Indian political party presidents
1885 establishments in India
Presidents of the Indian National Congress