The Indian national congress foundation was led by the leaders Allan Octavian Hume, Dinshaw Edulji Wacha and Dadabhai Naoroji in 1885. The colloquial term for INC is Congress Party.
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, Bal Gangadar Tilak, Gandhi, Nehru, Bose, etc. as its members.
List of Indian National Congress Sessions (from 1885 to 1947)
Foundation Years 1885 – 1900
| Session | Place | Date | President |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Session | Bombay | Dec. 28-30, 1885 | Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee |
| 2nd Session | Calcutta | Dec. 27-30, 1886 | Shri Dadabhai Naoroji |
| 3rd Session | Madras | Dec. 27-30, 1887 | Badruddin Tyabji |
| 4th Session | Allahabad | Dec. 26-29, 1888 | George Yule |
| 5th Session | Bombay | Dec. 26-28, 1889 | Sir William Wedderburn |
| 6th Session | Calcutta | Dec. 26-30, 1890 | Pherozeshah Mehta |
| 7th Session | Nagpur | Dec. 28-30, 1891 | P. Ananda Charlu |
| 8th Session | Allahabad | Dec. 28-30, 1892 | Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee |
| 9th Session | Lahore | Dec. 27-30, 1893 | Shri Dadabhai Naoroji |
| 10th Session | Madras | Dec. 26-29, 1894 | Alfred Webb |
| 11th Session | Pune | Dec. 27-30, 1895 | Surendranath Banerjee |
| 12th Session | Calcutta | Dec. 28-31, 1896 | Rahimatullah M. Sayani |
| 13th Session | Amraoti | Dec. 27-29, 1897 | C. Sankaran Nair |
| 14th Session | Madras | Dec. 29-31, 1898 | Ananda Mohan Bose |
| 15th Session | Lucknow | Dec. 27-29, 1899 | Romesh Chunder Dutt |
| 16th Session | Lahore | Dec. 27-29, 1900 | N.G. Chandavarkar |
Pre-Independence Era 1900 – 1947
| Session | Place | Date | President |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17th Session | Calcutta | Dec. 26-28, 1901 | Dinshaw Eduljee Wacha |
| 18th Session | Ahmedabad | Dec. 28-30, 1902 | Surendranath Banerjee |
| 19th Session | Madras | Dec. 28-30, 1903 | Lal Mohan Ghosh |
| 20th Session | Bombay | Dec. 26-28, 1904 | Sir Henry Cotton |
| 21st Session | Banaras | Dec. 27-30, 1905 | Gopal Krishna Gokhale |
| 22nd Session | Calcutta | Dec. 26-29, 1906 | Shri Dadabhai Naoroji |
| 23rd Session (Suspended) | Surat | Dec. 26-27, 1907 | Rash Behari Ghosh |
| 23rd Session | Madras | Dec. 28-30, 1908 | Rash Behari Ghosh |
| 24th Session | Lahore | Dec. 27-29, 1909 | Madan Mohan Malaviya |
| 25th Session | Allahabad | Dec. 26-29, 1910 | Sir William Wedderburn |
| 26th Session | Calcutta | Dec. 26-28, 1911 | Bishan Narayan Dhar |
| 27th Session | Bankipore | Dec. 26-28, 1912 | Shri Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar |
| 28th Session | Karachi | Dec. 26-28, 1913 | Nawab Syed Mohammed Bahadur |
| 29th Session | Madras | Apr. 14-15, 1914 | Bhupendra Nath Bose |
| 30th Session | Bombay | Dec. 27-29, 1915 | Satyendra Prasanna Sinha |
| 31st Session | Lucknow | Dec. 26-30, 1916 | Ambica Charan Mazumdar |
| 32nd Session | Calcutta | Dec. 26-29, 1917 | Annie Besant |
| 33rd Session | Delhi | Dec. 26-30, 1918 | Madan Mohan Malaviya |
| (Special Session) | Bombay | Aug. 29-01, 1918 | Romesh Chunder Dutt |
| 34th Session | Amritsar | Dec. 26-30, 1919 | Motilal Nehru |
| Special Session | Calcutta | September 1920 | Lala Lajpat Rai |
| 35th Session | Nagpur | Dec. 26-30, 1920 | C. Vijayaraghavachariar |
| 36th Session | Ahmedabad | Dec. 27-28, 1921 | Hakim Ajmal Khan (Acting President for C.R. Das) |
| 37th Session | Gaya | Dec. 26-31, 1922 | Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das |
| Special Session | Delhi | Sep. 04-08, 1923 | Maulana Abul Kalam Azad |
| 39th Session | Belgaum | Dec. 26-27, 1924 | M.K. Gandhi |
| 40th Session | Kanpur | Apr. 15-17, 1925 | Mrs. Sarojini Naidu |
| 41st Session | Gawahati | Dec. 26-28, 1926 | S. Srinivasa Iyengar |
| 42nd Session | Madras | Dec. 26-28, 1927 | M.A. Ansari |
| 43rd Session | Calcutta | Dec. 29-01, 1928 | Motilal Nehru |
| 44th Session | Lahore | Apr. 16-18, 1929 | Pt Jawaharlal Nehru |
| 45th Session | Karachi | Mar. 21-31, 1931 | Vallabbhai J. Patel |
| 46th Session | Delhi | April 24, 1932 | Amrit Ranchhorddas Seth |
| 47th Session | Calcutta | Sep. 12-14, 1933 | Mrs. Nellie Sengupta |
| 48th Session | Bombay | Oct. 24-28, 1934 | Dr. Rajendra Prasad |
| 49th Session | Lucknow | Jun. 18-20, 1936 | Pt Jawaharlal Nehru |
| 50th Session | Faizpur, MH | Jul. 12-14, 1937 | Pt Jawaharlal Nehru |
| 51st Session | Haripura, GJ | Feb. 19-21, 1938 | Subhash Chandra Bose |
| 52nd Session | Tripuri, MP | Mar. 10-12, 1939 | Subhash Chandra Bose (replaced by Rajendra Prasad) |
| 53rd Session | Ramgarh, JH | Mar. 19-20, 1940 | Maulana Abul Kalam Azad |
| 54th Session | Meerut | Nov. 23-24, 1946 | J.B. Kripalani |