The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party or 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 Empire in Asia and Africa. From the late 19th century, and especially after 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement. The Congress led India to independence from the United Kingdom, and significantly influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire.
Lal Krishna Advani is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. He is one of the co-founders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu nationalist volunteer organization. He is the longest serving Minister of Home Affairs serving from 1998 to 2004. He is also the longest serving Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. He was the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP during the 2009 general election.
Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda is an Indian politician who served as the 11th prime minister of India from 1 June 1996 to 21 April 1997. He was previously the 14th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1994 to 1996. He presently is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha representing Karnataka. He is the national president of the Janata Dal (Secular) party. Born in a farming family, he joined the Indian National Congress party in 1953, and remained a member until 1962. He was imprisoned during the Emergency. He became President of the state unit of Janata Dal in 1994, and was considered to be a driving force in the party's victory in Karnataka. He served as the 8th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1994 to 1996. In the 1996 general elections, no party won enough seats to form a government. When the United Front, a coalition of regional parties, formed the central government with the support of the Congress, Deve Gowda was unexpectedly chosen to head the government and was elected Prime Minister. During his tenure as prime minister, he also served as Home Minister for some time. His prime ministerial tenure lasted for less than a year. After his prime ministerial tenure, he was elected to the 12th (1998), 14th (2004), 15th, and 16th Lok Sabha, as Member of Parliament for the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency. He lost Lok Sabha elections in 2019 from Tumkuru but has been elected to Rajya Sabha since.
Purno Agitok Sangma was an Indian politician who has served as the 4th Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990 and the 11th Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998. He also served as a member of the Lok Sabha from Tura from 2014 to 2016, 1991 to 2008 and from 1977 to 1989 and the minister of 21st Information and Broadcasting in the Rao ministry from 1995 to 1996, founder of NPP and Co- founder of NCP. He was the candidate for the 2012 Indian presidential election, supported by BJP and AIADMK, however he lost to Congress politician Shri Pranab Mukherjee. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, posthumously in 2017 in the field of Public Affairs and was the first recipient of Padma Vibhushan from Meghalaya.
The Telugu Desam Party is an Indian regional political party with great influence in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It was founded by the former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh N. T. Rama Rao (N.T.R.) on 29 March 1982 and has focused on supporting Telugu speakers. The party has won a five-time majority in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and has emerged as the most successful political outfit in the state's history. It is currently the main opposition party in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal is an Indian political party, based in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Kerala. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Shankarrao Bhavrao Chavan was an Indian politician who served as the chief minister of Maharashtra twice from 1975 until 1977 and from 13 March 1986 until 26 June 1988. He was the finance minister of India from 1988 to 1989 in Rajiv Gandhi ministry. He also served as the home minister of India twice, from 31 December 1984 to 12 March 1986 in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet, and from 21 June 1991 to 16 May 1996 in the P. V. Narasimha Rao cabinet.
Ram Vilas Paswan was an Indian politician from Bihar and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the first and second Modi ministries. Paswan was also the president of the Lok Janshakti Party, nine-times Lok Sabha member and two-time Rajya Sabha MP. He started his political career as member of Samyukta Socialist Party and was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1969. Later, Paswan joined Lok Dal upon its formation in 1974, and became its general secretary. He opposed the emergency, and was arrested during this period. He first entered the Lok Sabha in 1977, as a Janata Party member from Hajipur constituency, and was elected again in 1980, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014.
Shatrughan Prasad Sinha is an Indian actor and politician. He is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Asansol constituency as a member of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). Earlier he was elected as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Patna Sahib. He was also a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha during 1996–2002 and 2002–2008. He was a Union Cabinet Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Shipping in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He was a member of standing committee on transport, tourism and culture and member of consultative committee in ministry of external affairs and overseas Indian affairs from 2014 to 2019. In 2016, his biography, Anything but Khamosh, was released.
The 14th Lok Sabha was convened after the 2004 Indian general election held in four phases during 20 April – 10 May 2004, which led to the formation of first Manmohan Singh ministry (2004–2009). Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance won 62 more seats than previous 13th Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha is the lower house in the Parliament of India. 8 sitting members from Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Indian Parliament, were elected to 14th Lok Sabha after the 2004 Indian general election.
Kamal Nath is an Indian politician who served as the 18th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for approximately 15 months and resigned after a political crisis. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly from March 2020 to April 2022.
Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi was an Indian National Congress politician, former Union Minister and a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Raiganj constituency of West Bengal. He died on 20 November 2017, aged 72, after nine years in a coma following a massive stroke.
Manikrao Hodlya Gavit was an Indian politician from Nandurbar district of Maharashtra, India. A member of the Indian National Congress (INC), he represented the Nandurbar constituency from 1980 to 2014, winning the Indian general elections consecutive nine times, marking a record.
Vilas Bhaurao Muttemwar is an Indian politician from Maharashtra belonging to the Indian National Congress who served as a member of the 7th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th Lok Sabha representing the Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is an Indian politician serving as the leader of the Indian National Congress in the 17th Lok Sabha since 2021 and from 2019 to 2021 and the Member of Parliament from Berhampore since 1999. He is also the current president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee following the demise of Somendra Nath Mitra since 2020 and from 2014 to 2018, Chairperson of Public Accounts Committee (India) since 2019, Minister of State of Railways from 2012 to 2014 and the member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1996 to 1999.
General elections were held in India between 25 October 1951 and 21 February 1952, the first after India attained independence in 1947. Voters elected the 489 members of the first Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. Elections to most of the state legislatures were held simultaneously.
Members of the 15th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2009 general election in India. It was dissolved on 18 May 2014 by President Pranab Mukherjee.
Mapanna Mallikarjun Kharge is an Indian lawyer and politician serving as the President of the Indian National Congress since 2022, and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha since 2021. He has been a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Karnataka since 2020.
V. S. Sivakumar is an Indian politician who is a member of Indian National Congress and a former Minister for Health, Family Welfare and Devaswom, Government of Kerala in the Second Oommen Chandy ministry. He has represented the Thiruvananthapuram Assembly constituency in Kerala from 2011 Assembly election in Kerala to 2021. He was a member of the 13th Lok Sabha representing Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency.
S. Krishna Kumar is a bureaucrat turned Indian politician from Kerala. He was also a technologist, technocrat, trade unionist, political and social worker, sportsman, Engineer and civil servant. He was a former leader of Indian National Congress in Kerala and joined Bharatiya Janata Party on 20 April 2019. He has been elected to the Lok Sabha three times during 80s and 90s, and was also a minister in the Rajiv Gandhi ministry and Rao ministry. He served as a member of the Lok Sabha representing Quilon. He was elected to 8th, 9th and 10th Lok Sabha.
