The Indian National Congress (INC) was established in 1885 and it grew to become one of the most important political parties in pre-independence India. Starting as an organisation comprising only of the educated elite in India, it later became a party of commoners with prominent leaders like Lajpat Rai, Tilak, Gandhi, Nehru, Bose, etc. as its members.
Indian National Congress Sessions
Indian National Congress founders: Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji and Dinshaw Edulji Wacha. Indian National Congress was founded on 28 December 1885.
The list of Indian National Congress sessions with their Presidents are given in the table below:
| Year | Location | President | Importance |
| 1885 | Bombay | W C Bonnerjee | 1st session attended by 72 delegates |
| 1886 | Calcutta | Dadabhai Naoroji | National Congress and National Conference |
| 1887 | Madras | Syed Badruddin Tyabji | Appeal made to Muslims to join hands with other national leaders |
| 1888 | Allahabad | George Yule | First English president |
| 1889 | Bombay | Sir William Wedderburn | – |
| 1890 | Calcutta | Feroz Shah Mehta | – |
| 1891 | Nagpur | P. Ananda Charlu | – |
| 1892 | Allahabad | W C Bonnerjee | – |
| 1893 | Lahore | Dadabhai Naoroji | – |
| 1894 | Madras | Alfred Webb | – |
| 1895 | Poona | Surendranath Banerjee | – |
| 1896 | Calcutta | Rahimtullah M. Sayani | National song ‘Vande Mataram’ sung for the first time |
| 1897 | Amravati | C. Sankaran Nair | – |
| 1898 | Madras | Ananda Mohan Bose | – |
| 1899 | Lucknow | Romesh Chandra Dutt | – |
| 1900 | Lahore | N G Chandavarkar | – |
| 1901 | Calcutta | Dinshaw E. Wacha | – |
| 1902 | Ahmedabad | Surendranath Banerjee | – |
| 1903 | Madras | Lal Mohan Ghosh | – |
| 1904 | Bombay | Sir Henry Cotton | – |
| 1905 | Benares | Gopal Krishna Gokhale | Expressed resentment against the partition of Bengal |
| 1906 | Calcutta | Dadabhai Naoroji | – |
| 1907 | Surat | Rash Behari Ghosh | Party splits into extremists and moderates |
| 1908 | Madras | Rash Behari Ghosh | Previous session continued |
| 1909 | Lahore | Madan Mohan Malaviya | Indian Councils Act, 1909 |
| 1910 | Allahabad | Sir William Wedderburn | – |
| 1911 | Calcutta | Bishan Narayan Dar | ‘Jana Gana Mana’ sung for the first time |
| 1912 | Bankipore (Patna) | Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar | – |
| 1913 | Karachi | Syed Mohammed Bahadur | – |
| 1914 | Madras | Bhupendra Nath Basu | – |
| 1915 | Bombay | Satyendra Prasanna Sinha | – |
| 1916 | Lucknow | Ambica Charan Mazumdar | Lucknow Pact – joint session with the Muslim League |
| 1917 | Calcutta | Annie Besant | First woman president of the INC |
| 1918 | Bombay And Delhi | Syed Hasan Imam (bombay) And Madan Mohan Malaviya (delhi) | Two sessions were held. First in Bombay in August/September Second in Delhi in December |
| 1919 | Amritsar | Motilal Nehru | – |
| 1920 | Nagpur | C Vijayaraghavachariar | – |
| 1921 | Ahmedabad | Hakim Ajmal Khan (acting President For C R Das) | – |
| 1922 | Gaya | C R Das | – |
| 1923 | Kakinada | Maulana Mohammad Ali, | – |
| 1924 | Belgaum | M K Gandhi | – |
| 1925 | Kanpur | Sarojini Naidu | First Indian woman president |
| 1926 | Guwahati | S Srinivasa Iyengar | – |
| 1927 | Madras | M A Ansari | – |
| 1928 | Calcutta | Motilal Nehru | All India Youth Congress formed |
| 1929 | Lahore | Jawaharlal Nehru | Resolution for ‘Poorna Swaraj.’ Civil Disobedience movement for complete independence to be launched, 26 January to be observed as ‘Independence Day’. |
| 1930 | No Session | – | – |
| 1931 | Karachi | Vallabhbhai Patel | Resolution on fundamental rights and national economic progress. Gandhi-Irwin pact endorsed. Gandhi nominated to represent INC in the second round table conference |
| 1932 | Delhi | Amrit Ranchhorddas Seth | – |
| 1933 | Calcutta | Malaviya Was Elected But Mrs Nellie Sengupta Presided | – |
| 1934 | Bombay | Rajendra Prasad | – |
| 1936 | Lucknow | Jawaharlal Nehru | – |
| 1937 | Faizpur | Jawaharlal Nehru | First session to be held in a village |
| 1938 | Haripura | Subhas Chandra Bose | National planning committee set up under Nehru |
| 1939 | Tripuri | Subhas Chandra Bose | Bose was elected but had to resign since Gandhi supported Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Instead Rajendra Prasad was appointed |
| 1940 | Ramgarh | Abul Kalam Azad | – |
| 1941-45 | – | – | No session because of arrest |
| 1946 | Meerut | Acharya Kripalani | Last session before independence |
| 1948 | Jaipur | Pattabhi Sitaramayya | First session after independence |
| 1950 | Nashik | Purushottam Das Tandon | – |
| 1951 | Delhi | Jawaharlal Nehru | – |
| 1953 | Hyderabad | Jawaharlal Nehru | – |
| 1954 | Kalyani | Jawaharlal Nehru | – |
| 1955 | Avadi(madras) | U. N. Dhebar | – |
| 1956 | Amritsar | U. N. Dhebar | – |
| 1958 | Gauhati | U. N. Dhebar | – |
| 1959 | Nagpur | Indira Gandhi | – |
| 1960 | Bangalore | Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy | – |
| 1961 | Bhavnagar | Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy | – |
| 1962 | Bhubaneshwar | Damodaran Sanjvayya | – |
| 1963 | Patna | Damodaran Sanjvayya | – |
| 1964 | Bhubaneshwar | K. Kamaraj | – |
| 1965 | Durgapur | K. Kamaraj | – |
