List of Indian National Congress Sessions: The Indian National Congress (INC), which was founded in 1885, quickly rose to prominence as one of the country’s most significant political organizations before independence. In 1885, the first meeting of the Indian National Congress took place. It is crucial for the IAS Exam to be aware of the sessions’ dates and presidents of the Indian National Congress.
A party of commoners having notable leaders like Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadar Tilak, Gandhi, Nehru, Bose, etc. as members, it began as an organization made up only of the educated elite in India.
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 founded the Indian National Congress. On December 28, 1885, the Indian National Congress was created. The subject is crucial for UPSC Mains as well.
Indian National Congress sessions-related UPSC questions
1. What were the Indian National Congress’s primary goals?
- to encourage the nation-building process in India in order to foster national unity and develop a sense of identity among the people as Indians.
- to create a national political platform that will enable political activists from all across India to organize and educate the public through a single national political party.
- to encourage political awareness and awakening among the educated population, then to all societal segments.
- to spread other ideas throughout the nation, such as anti-colonial ideology, democratic culture, and political liberal democracy.
2: Who was the Indian National Congress’s first general secretary?
In the first session, Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee of Calcutta was chosen as the President, and A.O. Hume served as the General Secretary.
3. Whose administration oversaw the inaugural meeting of the Indian National Congress?
The first President of the INC was Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee, to be precise.
4: Who presided over the 1909 Lahore session of the Indian National Congress?
Madan Mohan Malaviya presided over the Lahore Session in 1909.
5. Who was the Viceroy of British India at the time of the Congress’s inaugural meeting?
Lord Dufferin served as viceroy during the INC’s inaugural meeting. Find a list of all viceroys and governors general in the article that is linked.
6. During which session of the Indian National Congress did the Moderates and Extremists split?
In the Surat session of 1907, there was a division between moderates and extremists. (To change the subject to “Extremists & Moderates”)