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 especial ...
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 ...
(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 Committees and members of the
All India Congress Committee
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...
(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
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
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—
*
*
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* 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