PAST PRESIDENT – Join to congress

List of past presidents


No.	Year of Presidency	Name of President	Presided Session at Location	Life span (Notes)
1	1885	Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee	Bombay	29 December 1844 – 21 July 1906 A barrister who was the co-founder and first president of Indian National Congress presiding over its first session.^[14]
2	1886	Dadabhai Naoroji	Calcutta	4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917 He was also a member of the Indian National Association founded by Sir Surendranath Banerjee from Calcutta a few years before the founding of the INC in Bombay, with the same objectives and practices.^[15] The two groups later merged into the INC, and Naoroji was elected President of the Congress in 1886. Naoroji published Poverty and un-British Rule in India in 1901.^[15]
3	1887	Badruddin Tyabji	Madras	10 October 1844 – 19 August 1906 Tyabji was considered a moderate Muslims during the freedom movement of India.^[16] He was instrumental in building the national scope of the Congress by working to gain support from both Hindus and Muslims and during his time as President, he focused on uniting the Muslim community.^[17] In response to criticisms that Muslims should boycott the Congress, Tyabji declared that he had denounced all communal and sectarian prejudices.^[18]^[19]
4	1888	George Yule	Allahabad	17 April 1829 – 26 March 1892 A Scottish merchant who served as the fourth President of the Congress and the first non-Indian to hold that office.^[20] He was founder of George Yule & Co. of London, and headed Andrew Yule & Co., of Calcutta. He served as Sheriff of Calcutta and as President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce.
5	1889	William Wedderburn	Bombay	25 March 1838 – 25 January 1918 He joined the Indian Civil Service in Bombay and retired as acting Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay in 1887. He served as its president in 1889 and 1910. He worked along with influential Congress leaders in Bombay and in 1890 he chaired the British committee of the Indian National Congress. He contributed to the Indian Reform Movement through which he promoted national consciousness.^[21]
6	1890	Pherozeshah Mehta	Calcutta	4 August 1845 – 5 November 1915
7	1891	Anandacharlu	Nagpur	5 August 1843 – 4 January 1908
8	1892	Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee		29 December 1844 – 21 July 1906 Becoming a president for a second time^[22] he denounced the position that India had to prove for worthiness of political freedom.^[23]
9	1893	Dadabhai Naoroji	Lahore	4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917 He became the president for a second time. Naoroji published Poverty and un-British Rule in India in 1901.^[14]
10	1894	Alfred Webb	Madras	10 June 1834 – 30 July 1908
11	1895	Surendranath Banerjee	Poona	10 November 1848 – 6 August 1925
12	1896	Rahimtulla M. Sayani	Calcutta	5 April 1847 – 6 June 1902 He was a member of the Congress Executive Committee (Indian Congress Committee) formed in 1899 as one of the representatives from Bombay. As Congress president, his address to the party was notable for its detailed look on the British rule’s economic and financial aspects.^[24]
13	1897	C. Sankaran Nair	Amaravati	11 July 1857 – 24 April 1934
14	1898	Anandamohan Bose	Madras	23 September 1847 – 20 August 1906
15	1899	Romesh Chunder Dutt	Luknow	13 August 1848 – 30 November 1909
16	1900	N. G. Chandavarkar	Lahore	2 December 1855 – 14 May 1923
17	1901	Dinshaw Edulji Wacha	Calcutta	2 August 1844 – 18 February 1936
18	1902	Surendranath Banerjee		10 November 1848 – 6 August 1925
19	1903	Lalmohan Ghosh	Madras	1849 – 18 October 1909
20	1904	Henry Cotton	Bombay	13 September 1845 – 22 October 1915
21	1905	Gopal Krishna Gokhale	Banaras	9 May 1866 – 19 February 1915
22	1906	Dadabhai Naoroji	Calcutta	4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917 He was elected president of the Congress for a third time. Naoroji was a staunch moderate within the Congress, during the phase when opinion in the party was split between the moderates and extremists. Naoroji was a mentor to Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
23	1907	Rashbihari Ghosh	Surat	23 December 1845 – 28 February 1921 Originally the session was to be held in Nagpur. But fearing that Lokmanya Tilak of Extremists Group would have the upper hand in Nagpur, the Moderate camp’s leader Gokhale switched the venue to Surat. The Extremists then proposed Lala Lajpat Rai’s name as President but the suggestion was rejected. Tilak was imprisoned in Mandalay from 1908 to 1914, but rejoined Congress after his release.^[25]
24	1908	Rashbihari Ghosh	Madras	23 December 1845 – 28 February 1921
25	1909	Madan Mohan Malaviya	Lahore	25 December 1861 – 12 November 1946
26	1910	William Wedderburn		25 March 1838 – 25 January 1918 He joined the Indian Civil Service in Bombay and retired as acting Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay in 1887. He served as its president in 1889 and 1910. He worked along with influential Congress leaders in Bombay and in 1890 he chaired the British committee of the Indian National Congress. He contributed to the Indian Reform Movement through which he promoted national consciousness.^[21]
27	1911	Bishan Narayan Dar	Calcutta	1864 – 19 November 1916
28	1912	Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar		16 May 1857 – 13 January 1921
29	1913	Nawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur		1867 – 12 February 1919
30	1914	Bhupendra Nath Bose		13 January 1859 – 13 September 1924
31	1915	Lord Satyendra Prasanna Sinha		24 March 1863 – 4 March 1928
32	1916	Ambica Charan Mazumdar	Lucknow	1850 – 19 March 1922
33	1917	Annie Besant	Calcutta	1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933
34	1918	Madan Mohan Malaviya		25 December 1861 – 12 November 1946
35	1918	Syed Hasan Imam		31 August 1871 – 19 April 1933
36	1919	Motilal Nehru	Amritsar	6 May 1861 – 6 February 1931
37	1920	Lala Lajpat Rai	Calcutta (special session)	28 January 1865 – 17 November 1928
38	1920	C. Vijayaraghavachariar	Nagpur	18 June 1852 – 19 April 1944
39	1921	Chittaranjan Das (President) Hakim Ajmal Khan (Acting President)	Ahemdabad	11 February 1868 – 29 December 1927
40	1922	Chittaranjan Das	Gaya	5 November 1870 – 16 June 1925
41	1923	Mohammad Ali Jouhar		10 December 1878 – 4 January 1931
42	1923	Abul Kalam Azad	Delhi	11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958
43	1924	Mahatma Gandhi	Belgaum	2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948
44	1925	Sarojini Naidu	Kanpur	13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949
45	1926	S. Srinivasa Iyengar	Guwahati	11 September 1874 – 19 May 1941
46	1927	Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari	Madras	25 December 1880 – 10 May 1936
47	1928	Motilal Nehru	Calcutta	6 May 1861 – 6 February 1931
48	1929 & 30	Jawaharlal Nehru	Lahore	14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964
49	1931	Vallabhbhai Patel	Karachi	31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950
50	1932	Madan Mohan Malaviya		25 December 1861 – 12 November 1946
51	1933	Nellie Sengupta		12 January 1884 – 23 October 1973 She was elected President by the party for her contribution to the party and the country. In 1933 and 1936, she was elected as an alderman in the Calcutta Corporation.^[26]
52	1934 & 35	Rajendra Prasad	Bombay	3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963
53	1936	Jawaharlal Nehru	Lucknow and Faizpur	14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964
54	1937	Jawaharlal Nehru	Lucknow and Faizpur	14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964
55	1938	Subhas Chandra Bose	Haripura, Gujarat	23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 He had a view that the INC “should be organised on the boradest anti-imperialist front with the two fold objective of winning political freedom and the establishment of a socialist regime.”^[27]
56	1939	Subhas Chandra Bose (resigned) Rajendra Prasad replaced Bose after the session.	Tripuri, Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh (Then in Central Provinces and Berar)	23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945
57	1940–45	Abul Kalam Azad	Ramgarh	11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958
57	1946	Jawaharlal Nehru		14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964 One month after his election as the president, he was asked to head the Interim Government. After which the post of the party president and the head of the Interim government was split. Nehru resigned as the president of INC and headed the Government.^[28]
58	1947	J. B. Kripalani	Meerut	11 November 1888 – 19 March 1982 He had served as the General Secretary of the INC for almost a decade. He had experience working in the field of education and was made the president to rebuild the INC. Disputes between the party and the Government over procedural matters affected his relationship with the colleagues in the Government.^[28]
59	1948 & 49	Pattabhi Sitaraimayya	Jaipur	24 December 1880 – 17 December 1959 The Governor of Madhya Pradesh from 1952–57, Sitaraimayya successfully ran for the president’s post with the support of Jawaharlal Nehru. Sitaramayya was one of the leaders who demanded the need for a separate state that went on to become Andhra Pradesh. He founded the Andhra Bank in Machilipatnam in 1923.
60	1950	Purushottam Das Tandon		1 August 1882 – 1 July 1962 Tandon won against J.B Kripalani in the 1950 elections, but soon resigned from the post because of differences he had with Nehru. Tandon was also instrumental in making sure that Hindi received official language status.
61	1951 & 52	Jawaharlal Nehru		14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964
62	1953
63	1954
64	1955	U. N. Dhebar		21 September 1905 – 11 March 1977 The Chief Minister of Saurashtra from 1948–54, Dhebar held a four-year term as Congress president. In 1962, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Rajkot.
65	1956
66	1957
67	1958
68	1959
69	1959	Indira Gandhi		19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984
70	1960	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy		19 May 1913 – 1 June 1996 Reddy served as the Congress president thrice. After he lost the 1969 Presidential elections to V.V. Giri, he retired from active politics for a while. But he was elected to Lok Sabha in 1977, and became President of India later that year.
71	1961
72	1962 & 63
73	1964	K. Kamaraj		15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975 The third Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu), he was the leader of the Congress (O) when the party split up after Indira Gandhi’s elevation to the presidency, a post he remained in until his death in 1975. Kamraj served as president from 1965-68.
74	1965
75	1966 & 67
76	1968–1969	S. Nijalingappa	Hyderabad, Faridabad	10 December 1902 – 9 August 2000 Nijalingappa was the last President of the undivided Congress party, and during the split, he ended up on the side of the Syndicate. He was elected to the first Lok Sabha from the Chitradurga constituency in 1952.
77	1970 & 71	Jagjivan Ram		5 April 1908 – 6 July 1986 Ram was a president of the party between 1970-71. Later, he formed his own party, naming it Congress (J) and remained an MP until his death.
78	1972–74	Shankar Dayal Sharma		19 August 1918 – 26 December 1999
79	1975–77	Devakanta Barua		22 February 1914 – 28 January 1996
80	1977–1978	Kasu Brahmananda Reddy		28 July 1909 – 20 May 1994
81	1978–83	Indira Gandhi		19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984 She led a dominant faction of Congress called ‘Indira Congress’ from 1978 to 1984. After her death, other factions gradually merged back with Congress (Indira), and the party became known as simply ‘Congress’ again.
82	1983 & 84	Indira Gandhi
83	1985–91	Rajiv Gandhi		20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991
84	1991–96	P. V. Narasimha Rao		28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004
85	1996–98	Sitaram Kesri		15 November 1919 – 24 October 2000
86	1998–2017	Sonia Gandhi		9 December 1946
87	2017–2019	Rahul Gandhi		19 June 1970
88	2019–	Sonia Gandhi		9 December 1946^[29]