Indian National Congress Annual Sessions

Year

Place

President

Details

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

The word ‘Swaraj’ was mentioned for the first time

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 Dhar

‘Jana Gana Mana’ sung for the first time

1912

Bankipore (Patna)

Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar

–

1913

Karachi

Syed Mohammed

–

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

Jallianwala Bagh massacre strongly condemned

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

–

1936

Faizpur

Jawaharlal Nehru

First rural session/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., Rajendra Prasad was appointed after him to the president post.

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

Resigned in 1951; Nehru became President

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

–