BJP’s new working president Nitin Nabin is 45. Here’s how old India’s other party chiefs are

A look at the current presidents or top party heads of major Indian political parties shows how stark that gap is.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on December 14 appointed Nitin Nabin as its national working president, handing a key organisational role to a 45-year-old leader at a time when most major political parties in India remain firmly led by much older hands.

Nabin, a former Bihar minister and a long-time RSS-trained organiser, is among the youngest leaders to be elevated to the top tier of national party leadership.

A look at the current presidents or top party heads of major Indian political parties shows how stark that gap is.

How old are India’s political party presidents?

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

Leader: Nitin Nabin (Working President)

Current age: 45

Age when he took office: 45

Took charge: December 14, 2025

Indian National Congress

Leader: Mallikarjun Kharge

Current age: 83

Age when he took office: 80

Took charge: October 2022

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

Leader: Arvind Kejriwal (National Convener)

Current age: 57

Age when he took office: 44

Took charge: 2012

Trinamool Congress (TMC)

Leader: Mamata Banerjee (Chairperson)

Current age: 70

Age when she took office: 42

Took charge: 1998

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)

Leader: Lalu Prasad Yadav

Current age: 77

Age when he took office: 49

Took charge: 1997

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) (Sharadchandra Pawar faction)

Leader: Sharad Pawar

Current age: 85

Age when he took office: 58

Took charge: 1999

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)

Leader: M K Stalin

Current age: 72

Age when he took office: 65

Took charge: 2018

AIADMK

Leader: Edappadi K Palaniswami (General Secretary)

Current age: 71

Age when he took office: 68

Took charge: 2023

Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction)

Leader: Eknath Shinde

Current age: 61

Age when he took charge: ~58

Took charge: 2022

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction)

Leader: Uddhav Thackeray

Current age: 65

Age when he took office: 52

Took charge: 2013

Samajwadi Party (SP)

Leader: Akhilesh Yadav

Current age: 52

Age when he took office: 43

Took charge: 2017

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)

Leader: Mayawati

Current age: 69

Age when she took office: 47

Took charge: 2003

Biju Janata Dal (BJD)

Leader: Naveen Patnaik

Current age: 79

Age when he took office: 51

Took charge: 1997

Why Nitin Nabin’s elevation stands out

Across parties, leadership in India remains decidedly geriatric, with most presidents in their late 60s, 70s, or 80s, many having held the top post for decades. Against that backdrop, Nitin Nabin’s elevation at 45 is an outlier, not the norm.

For the BJP, the message is twofold: organisational continuity under veterans, paired with a visible attempt to inject younger faces into the party’s national power structure. Whether this signals deeper generational churn, or remains a symbolic appointment, is the political question that follows.x