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Indian
National Modern History Notes For
UPSC
Congress
Sessions
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The journey of the Indian National Congress (INC) began on 28 December 1885, when the first Indian
National Congress session was held. It was in this Indian National Congress session that retired ICS
officer, Allan Octavian Hume along with 72 political workers gave a final shape to the political party
named Indian National Congress.
 Following this, the INC made it a custom to organise the Indian National Congress sessions
every year in the month of December. Each year it was organised in different parts of the
country.
 The President of the Indian National Congress was also the President of the annual sessions of
INC. Initially, from 1885 to 1933, the term of the person elected as the President of INC was one
year. From 1933 onwards, there was no such fixed term.
In this article on Indian National Congress sessions, the location, year and the President of Indian
National Congress sessions are discussed along with the outcome of a few important sessions. It is an
important topic under the modern history syllabus of UPSC CSE. This topic will be helpful for the
aspirants in their upcoming exams.

Aspirants can also check the NCERT Notes on revolutionary movements in India from the linked
article.

List Of Indian National Congress Sessions

In the following table, a list of Indian National Congress sessions and its President from 1885 to 1985 is
provided.

Session Year Place President

1st Session 1885 (Dec. 28-30) Bombay Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee

2nd Session 1886 (Dec. 27-30) Calcutta Shri Dadabhai Naoroji

3rd Session 1887 (Dec. 27-30) Madras Badruddin Tyabji

4th Session 1888 (Dec. 26-29) Allahabad George Yule

5th Session 1889 (Dec. 26-28) Bombay Sir William Wedderburn

6th Session 1890 (Dec. 26-30) Calcutta Pherozeshah Mehta

7th Session 1891 (Dec. 28-30) Nagpur P. Ananda Charlu

8th Session 1892 (Dec. 28-30) Allahabad Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee

9th Session 1893 (Dec. 27-30) Lahore Shri Dadabhai Naoroji

10th Session 1894 (Dec. 26-29) Madras Alfred Webb

11th Session 1895 (Dec. 27-30) Pune Surendranath Banerjee

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12th Session 1896 (Dec. 28-31) Calcutta Rahimatullah M. Sayani

13th Session 1897 (Dec. 27-29) Amravati C.Sankaran Nair

14th Session 1898 (Dec. 29-31) Madras Ananda Mohan Bose

15th Session 1899 (Dec. 27-29) Lucknow Romesh Chunder Dutt

16th Session 1900 (Dec. 27-29) Lahore N.G.Chandavarkar

17th Session 1901 (Dec. 26-28) Calcutta Dinshaw Eduljee Wacha

18th Session 1902 (Dec. 28-30) Ahmedabad Surendranath Banerjee

19th Session 1903 (Dec. 28-30) Madras Lal Mohan Ghosh

20th Session 1904 (Dec. 26-28) Bombay Sir Henry Cotton

21st Session 1905 (Dec. 27-30) Banaras Gopal Krishna Gokhale

22nd Session 1906(Dec. 26-29) Calcutta Shri Dadabhai Naoroji

23rd Session 1907 (Dec. 26-27) Surat Rash Behari Ghosh

(Suspended)

23rd Session 1908 (Dec. 28-30) Madras Rash Behari Ghosh

24th Session 1909 (Dec. 27-29) Lahore Madan Mohan Malaviya

25th Session 1910 (Dec. 26-29) Allahabad Sir William Wedderburn

26th Session 1911(Dec. 26-28) Calcutta Bishan Narayan Dar

27th Session 1912 (Dec. 26-28) Bankipore Shri Raghunath Narasinha

Mudholkar

28th Session 1913 (Dec. 26-28) Karachi Nawab Syed Mohammed Bahadur

29th Session 1914 (Apr. 14-15) Madras Bhupendra Nath Bose

30th Session 1915 (Dec. 27-29) Bombay Satyendra Prasanna Sinha

31st Session 1916 (Dec. 26-30) Lucknow Ambica Charan Mazumdar

32nd Session 1917 (Dec. 26-29) Calcutta Annie Besant

33rd Session 1918 (Dec. 26-30) Delhi Madan Mohan Malaviya

34th Session 1919 (Dec. 26-30) Amritsar Motilal Nehru

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35th Session 1920 (Dec. 26-30) Nagpur C. Vijayaraghavachariar

36th Session 1921 (Dec. 27-28) Ahmedabad Hakim Ajmal Khan

37th Session 1922 (Dec. 26-31) Gaya Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das

38th Session 1923 (Sep. 04-08) Delhi Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

39th Session 1924 (Dec. 26-27) Belgaum M.K.Gandhi

40th Session 1925 (Apr. 15-17) Cawnpore Mrs. Sarojini Naidu

41st Session 1926 (Dec. 26-28) Guwahati S..Srinivasa Iyengar

42nd Session 1927 (Dec. 26-28) Madras M.A.Ansari

43rd Session 1928 (Dec. 29-01) Calcutta Motilal Nehru

44th Session 1929 (Apr. 16-18) Lahore Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru

45th Session 1931 (Mar. 21-31) Karachi Vallabhbhai J.Patel

46th Session 1932 (Apr. 24-28) Delhi Amrit Ranchhorddas Seth

47th Session 1933 (Sep. 12-14) Calcutta Mrs. Nellie Sengupta

48th Session 1934 (Oct. 24-28) Bombay Dr.Rajendra Prasad

49th Session 1936 (Jun. 18-20) Lucknow Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru

50th Session 1937 (Jul. 12-14) Faizpur Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru

51st Session 1938 (Feb. 19-21) Haripura Subhash Chandra Bose

52nd Session 1939 (Mar. 10-12) Tripura Subhash Chandra Bose

53rd Session 1940 (Mar. 19-20) Ramgarh Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

54th Session 1946 (Nov. 23-24) Meerut J.B. Kripalani

55th Session 1948 (Dec. 18-18) Jaipur B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya

56th Session 1950 (Sep. 21-22) Nasik Purushottam Das Tandon

57th Session 1951 (Mar. 10-12) New Delhi Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru

58th Session 1953 (May. 08- Hyderabad Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru

10)

59th Session 1954 (Jul. 10-12) Kalyani Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru

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60th Session 1955 (Sep. 07-09) Madras Romesh Chunder Dutt

61st Session 1956 (Aug. 11-13) Amritsar Shri U. N.Dhebar

62nd Session 1957 (May. 14- Indore Shri U. N.Dhebar

15)

63rd Session 1958 (Jul. 15-17) Gauhati Shri U. N.Dhebar

64th Session 1959 (Jun. 10-12) Nagpur Shri U. N.Dhebar

65th Session 1960 (Jan. 16-15) Bangalore N. Sanjiva Reddy

66th Session 1961 (Jan. 06-07) Bhavnagar N. Sanjiva Reddy

67th Session 1962 (Aug. 13-15) Patna N. Sanjiva Reddy

68th Session 1964 (Sep. 17-19) Bhubaneshwar Shri K. Kamaraj

69th Session 1965 (Apr. 14-16) Durgapur Shri K. Kamaraj

70th Session 1966 (Jul. 16-18) Jaipur Shri K. Kamaraj

71st Session 1968 (Jan. 10-11) Hyderabad S. Nijalingappa

72nd Session 1969 (Apr. 26-28) Faridabad S. Nijalingappa

73rd Session 1970 (Dec. 28-29) Bombay Jagjivan Ram

74th Session 1972 (Dec. 28-29) Calcutta Shankar Dayal Sharma

75th Session 1976 (Dec. 31-01) Chandigarh D.K.Barooah

76th Session 1978 (Jan. 01-02) New Delhi Indira Gandhi

77th Session 1983 (Dec. 29-30) Calcutta Indira Gandhi

78th Session 1985 (Dec. 28-28) Bombay Rajiv Gandhi

Study the NCERT notes on Subhas Chandra Bose here.

Outcomes Of Important Indian National Congress Sessions

Details and outcomes of some of the important Indian National Congress sessions are discussed
below:
 1885 - In the first session, the objectives of the Indian National Congress (INC) were outlined.
 1886 - In the second session, INC decided to establish Provincial Congress Committees across
India. Further, in this session, the National Congress was merged with the National Conference.
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 1887 - In this session, Syed Badruddin Tyabji was elected as the first Muslim President of INC
and INC appealed to the Muslims to join hands with other national leaders in the freedom
struggle.
 1888 - George Yule became the first English President of INC.
 1892 - In the 8th session of Indian National Congress, the Indian Councils Act of 1892
introduced by the British government was criticised by the Congress on the ground that the
Indians were denied the right to elect their own representatives.
 1896 - In the 12th session, the Congress passed a resolution against the British, blaming them
for the famine which then devastated many parts of the country. The National song was sung
for the first time in the Congress session
 1897 - In the Amravati session, Congress slammed Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s arrest on charges of
sedition.
 1899 - In the 15th Indian National Congress session, permanent fixation of the land revenue
was demanded. In addition, the Congress also demanded the British government in India to
stop the drain of wealth from India to England.

Check the NCERT notes on Simon Commission here.

 1904 - In the Bombay session, the Congress protested against Lord Curzon as he violated the
rules by using the Indian revenue for his forward policy in Tibet and also against his proposal to
divide Bengal.
 1906 - The term ‘Swaraj’ was mentioned for the first time in the 22nd Indian National Congress
session that took place in Calcutta.
 1907 - In the Surat session, the Congress was split into two - the moderates led by
Surendranath Banerjea and Gopal Krishna Gokhale and the extremists led by Bal Gangadhar
Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal.
 1908 - The Constitution of the Congress was made in the 23rd session of INC.
 1909 - In the Lahore session, the Congress opposed the provision of the Indian Councils Act of
1909 which proposed formation of separate electorates on the basis of religion.
 1911 - The National anthem “Jana Gana Mana’ was recited for the first time in the Calcutta
session of Indian National Congress.

Read the NCERT Notes on Morley-Minto reforms here.

 1915 - In the Bombay session, suitable alterations were made in the constitution of the
Congress in order to admit extremists back into the Congress.
 1916 - The moderates and extremists were united and extremists were readmitted into the INC
in the Lucknow session. Also, the Congress signed the Lucknow pact with the Muslim League.
 1917 - Annie Besant became the first woman president of Indian National Congress at the
Calcutta session.
 1918 - At the special session held in Bombay, Congress commented that the Montague-
Chelmsford reforms are disappointing and demanded a Declaration of Rights for the people of
India.
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 1919 - In the 34th session of Indian National Congress, the Congress condemned the
Jallianwala Bagh massacre and expressed its deep solidarity with the people killed in it.
 1920 - In the Nagpur session, the Congress decided to intensify the Non-Cooperation
Movement and it urged the Indian merchants to boycott foreign trades.

Study the NCERT notes on Indian Council Act of 1861 here.

 1921 - In this session, Harsat Mohani demanded for complete independence.

 1922 - The Swaraj party was formed by C.R.Das at the Gaya session of the Congress.
 1924 - The Indian National Congress session held at Belgaum was the only session attended
by M.K. Gandhi.
 1925 - At the Kanpur session, Sarojini Naidu became the first Indian women President of INC.
 1927 - In this session, the Congress decided to boycott the Simon Commission and adopted
complete national independence as the goal of INC.
 1928 - The first All India Youth Congress came into existence at the 43rd session.
 1929 - At this session, the Congress passed a resolution for Poorna Swaraj and the Congress
Working Committee was authorised to launch the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Study the NCERT notes on Cripps mission here.

 1931 - The Congress passed a resolution on Fundamental Rights and National Economic
Programme and also endorsed the Gandhi-Irwin pact at the Karachi session of INC.
 1934 - In the 48th session, the Congress Socialist party was formed.
 1936 - Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru urged the Indian National Congress to adopt socialism as its goal.
 1937 - For the first time, the Congress session was held in a rural area at Faizpur in Jalgaon.
 1938 - National Planning Committee was established under the chairmanship of Pt. Jawaharlal
Nehru and Haripura resolution demanding Poorna Swaraj was passed.
 1940 - In the Ramgarh session, the Congress protested against the declaration of India as a
belligerent country without any reference to the people and also declared that nothing short of
complete independence will be accepted.

Also, check the NCERT notes on the rise of Gandhi in Indian freedom struggle here.

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