Who among the following was the President of Indian National Congress at the…

CONCEPT: The President of the Indian National Congress (INC) was the party's own elected head for a fixed term - a position separate from formal government offices such as Governor-General, Prime Minister, or (later) President of India. Who held the INC presidency in a given year depends on the party's internal election calendar, independent of who held those other offices at the same time.

APPLICATION: Acharya J. B. Kripalani was elected President of the INC in November 1946 and continued to hold that office through 1947. He was therefore the sitting INC President on 15 August 1947, the day of India's Independence, and he resigned from the post later that year, in November 1947.

Why the other names do not fit:

• Rajendra Prasad chaired the Constituent Assembly around this period and went on to become independent India's first President in 1950 - neither role is the INC presidency of August 1947.

• Pattabhi Sitaramayya held the INC presidency only from 1948-49, after independence.

• Jawaharlal Nehru was INC President in 1946 but gave up that post on becoming head of the Interim Government in September 1946, a year before Independence.

CROSS-CHECK: Tracing the sequence of INC presidents around this period - Maulana Azad until 1946, then Nehru in 1946, then Kripalani from November 1946 - confirms that Kripalani is the only one of the four names whose term as Congress President actually spans 15 August 1947.