List of Indian National Congress Sessions: The Indian National Congress (INC) was founded in 1885, and by the time India was on its way toward independence, it had become one of the most influential political organizations in the country. In the year 1885, the first ever session of the Indian National Congress took place. For the IAS exam, it is essential to have a working knowledge of the dates of the sessions of the Indian National Congress as well as the presidents who presided over those sessions.
It began as an organization that was made up of India’s educated elite only, but with time it evolved into a party made up of commoners and included notable leaders such as Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadar Tilak, Gandhi, Nehru, Bose, etc. among its ranks.
List of Indian National Congress Sessions
The Founding Years (1885-1900)
| Date | Place | President | Session |
| 28-30 December 1885 | Bombay | Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee | 1st |
| 27-30 December 1886 | Calcutta | Dadabhai Naoroji | 2nd |
| 27-30 December 1887 | Madras | Badruddin Tyyabji (fist Muslim President) | 3rd |
| 26-29 December 1888 | Allahabad | George Yule (first English President) | 4th |
| 26-28 December 1889 | Bombay | Sir William Wedderburn | 5th |
| 26-30 December 1890 | Calcutta | Pherozeshah Mehta | 6th |
| 28-30 December 1891 | Nagpur | P. Ananda Charlu | 7th |
| 28-30 December 1892 | Allahabad | Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee | 8th |
| 27-30 December 1893 | Lahore | Dadabhai Naoroji | 9th |
| 26-29 December 1894 | Madras | Alfred Webb | 10th |
| 27-30 December 1895 | Pune | Surendranath Banerjee | 11th |
| 28-31 December 1896 | Calcutta | Rahimatullah M. Sayani | 12th |
| 27-29 December 1897 | Amraoti | C. Sankaran Nair | 13th |
| 29-31 December 1898 | Madras | Ananda Mohan Bose | 14th |
| 27-29 December 1899 | Lucknow | Romesh Chunder Dutt | 15th |
| 27-29 December 1900 | Lahore | N.G. Chandavarkar |
The Pre Independece Era (1900-1947)
| Date | Place | President | Session |
| 26-28 December 1901 | Calcutta | Dinshaw Eduljee Wacha | 17th |
| 28-30 December 1902 | Ahmedabad | Surendranath Banerjee | 18th |
| 28-30 December 1903 | Madras | Lal Mohan Ghosh | 19th |
| 26-28 December 1904 | Bombay | Sir Henry Cotton | 20th |
| 27-30 December 1905 | Banaras | Gopal Krishna Gokhale | 21st |
| 26-29 December 1906 | Calcutta | Dadabhai Naoroji | 22nd |
| 26-27 December 1907 | Surat | Rash Behari Ghosh | 23rd (Session Suspended) |
| 28-30 December 1908 | Madras | Rash Behari Ghosh | 23rd |
| 27-29 December 1909 | Lahore | Madan Mohan Malviya | 24th |
| 26-29 December 1910 | Allahabad | Sir William Wedderburn | 25th |
| 26-28 December 1911 | Calcutta | Bishan Narayan Dar | 26th |
| 26-28 December 1912 | Bankipore | Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar | 27th |
| 26-28 December 1913 | Karachi | Nawab Syed Mohammed Bahadur | 28th |
| 14-15 April 1914 | Madras | Bhupendra Nath Bose | 29th |
| 27-29 December 1915 | Bombay | Satyendra Prasanna Sinha | 30th |
| 26-30 December 1916 | Lucknow | Ambica Charan Mazumdar | 31st |
| 26-29 December 1917 | Calcutta | Annie Besant | 32nd |
| 26-30 December 1918 | Delhi | Madan Mohan Malviya | 33rd |
| 29 August – 1 September 1918 | Bombay | Romesh Chunder Dutt | Special Session |
| 26-30 December 1919 | Amritsar | Motilal Nehru | 34th |
| 26-30 December 1920 | Nagpur | C. Vijayaraghavachariar | 35th |
| 27-28 December 1921 | Ahmadabad | Hakim Ajmal Khan (Acting President for C.R. Das) | 36th |
| 26-31 December 1922 | Gaya | Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das | 37th |
| 4-8 September 1923 | Delhi | Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad | Special session |
| 26-27 December 1924 | Belgaum | M.K. Gandhi | 39th |
| 15-17 April 1925 | Cawnpore | Mrs. Sarojini Naidu | 40th |
| 26-28 December 1926 | Gawahati | S. Srinivasa Iyengar | 41th |
| 26-28 December 1927 | Madras | M. A. Ansari | 42nd |
| 29 December 1928 – 1 January 1929 | Calcutta | Motilal Nehru | 43rd |
| 16-18 April 1929 | Lahore | Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru | 44th |
| 21-31 March 1931 | Karachi | Vallabhbhai J. Patel | 45th |
| 12-14 September 1933 | Calcutta | Mrs. Nellie Sengupta | 47th |
| 24-28 October 1934 | Bombay | Dr. Rajendra Prasad | 48th |
| 18-20 June 1936 | Lucknow | Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru | 49th |
| 12-14 July 1937 | Faizpur | Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru | 50th |
| 19-21 February 1938 | Haripura | Subhash Chandra Bose | 51st |
| 10-12 March 1939 | Tripura | Subhash Chandra Bose | 52nd |
| 19-20 March 1940 | Ramgarh | Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad | 53rd |
| 23-24 November 1946 | Meerut | J.B. Kriplani | 54th |
Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, and Dinshaw Edulji Wacha were the individuals who initially established the Indian National Congress. On December 28th, 1885, the Indian National Congress was established as a political organization. The subject matter is significant for the UPSC Mains examination as well.
Questions posed by the UPSC in relation to the sessions of the Indian National Congress
What is the primary goal of the Indian National Congress ?
The Indian National Congress aimed to accomplish the following primary goals during its time in power:
- To encourage the process of nation-building in India in order to foster a sense of belonging to the Indian nation as a whole among the population and to further efforts toward strengthening national unity.
- The goal of this project is to establish an all-India political platform that will enable political workers from different parts of the country to educate and mobilize the general populace as part of a single all-India political organization.
- The objective is to first cultivate a sense of political consciousness and political awakening among the educated members of society, and then to expand this goal to include all aspects of social life.
- In order to foster other things within the nation, such as political liberal democracy, democratic culture, and anti-colonial ideology among the populace, we need to work toward this goal.
Who was the Indian National Congress’s first general secretary, and when did they assume that position?
Answer: Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee, a resident of Calcutta, was chosen to serve as President during the inaugural session, while A.O. Hume was appointed to the role of General Secretary.
Who served as the first president of the Indian National Congress and oversaw the organization of its inaugural meeting?
To answer your question, Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee was the first President of the Indian National Congress.
The Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress in 1909 was presided over by which of the following?
It was Madan Mohan Malaviya who served as the presiding officer at the Lahore Session of 1909.
Who was the Viceroy of British India when the first session of the Congress was held, and when did it take place?
When the inaugural meeting of the INC took place, Lord Dufferin was serving as Viceroy of Canada at the time. In the article that you have linked to, you will find a list of all governors-general and viceroys.
During which session did the Indian National Congress break into two parts—the Moderates and the Extremists?
The answer is that the moderates and the extremists became ideologically distinct during the Surat session in 1907. (In order to go through the concept again—Extremists and Moderates)
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