| 1885 | Bombay | W.C. Bonnerjee | First Session attended by 72 delegates. |
| 1886 | Calcutta | Dadabhai Naoroji | Congress and the National Conference merged. |
| 1887 | Madras | Badruddin Tyabji | First Muslim President of the INC. |
| 1888 | Allahabad | George Yule | First English President of the INC. |
| 1889 | Bombay | Sir William Wedderburn | — |
| 1890 | Calcutta | Pherozeshah 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 | Rahimtulla M. Sayani | “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 | Lalmohan Ghosh | — |
| 1904 | Bombay | Sir Henry Cotton | — |
| 1905 | Benaras (Varanasi) | Gopal Krishna Gokhale | Protested against the Partition of Bengal. |
| 1906 | Calcutta | Dadabhai Naoroji | “Swaraj” declared as the goal of the Congress for the first time. |
| 1907 | Surat | Rash Behari Ghosh | Surat Split between Moderates and Extremists. |
| 1908 | Madras | Rash Behari Ghosh | Previous session continued after Surat Split. |
| 1909 | Lahore | Madan Mohan Malaviya | Supported the Indian Councils Act, 1909 (Morley–Minto Reforms). |
| 1910 | Allahabad | Sir William Wedderburn | — |
| 1911 | Calcutta | Bishan Narayan Dhar | “Jana Gana Mana” sung for the first time at an INC session. |
| 1912 | Bankipore (Patna) | R.N. Mudholkar | — |
| 1913 | Karachi | Syed Mohammad Bahadur | — |
| 1914 | Madras | Bhupendra Nath Basu | — |
| 1915 | Bombay | S.P. Sinha | — |
| 1916 | Lucknow | Ambika Charan Mazumdar | Lucknow Pact; joint session with the Muslim League. |
| 1917 | Calcutta | Annie Besant | First Woman President of the INC. |
| 1918 | Bombay (Special) | Syed Hasan Imam | Special Session held in August. |
| 1918 | Delhi (Annual) | Madan Mohan Malaviya | Annual Session held in December. |
| 1919 | Amritsar | Motilal Nehru | Held after the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre; condemned British repression. |
| 1920 | Nagpur | C. Vijayaraghavachariar | Congress reorganised on a linguistic basis and adopted the Gandhian Programme. |
| 1921 | Ahmedabad | Hakim Ajmal Khan (Acting President for C.R. Das) | — |
| 1922 | Gaya | C.R. Das | Formation of the Swaraj Party followed this session. |
| 1923 | Kakinada | Maulana Mohammad Ali | — |
| 1924 | Belgaum | Mahatma Gandhi | Only session presided over by Gandhi. |
| 1925 | Kanpur | Sarojini Naidu | First Indian Woman President of the INC. |
| 1926 | Guwahati | S. Srinivasa Iyengar | — |
| 1927 | Madras | Dr. M.A. Ansari | — |
| 1928 | Calcutta | Motilal Nehru | First All India Youth Congress formed. |
| 1929 | Lahore | Jawaharlal Nehru | Poorna Swaraj Resolution adopted; 26 January declared Independence Day. |
| 1930 | — | — | No Session (Civil Disobedience Movement underway). |
| 1931 | Karachi | Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel | Resolution on Fundamental Rights and National Economic Programme; endorsed the Gandhi–Irwin Pact. |
| 1932 | Delhi | Amrit Ranchhoddas Seth | — |
| 1933 | Calcutta | Mrs. Nellie Sengupta | First English Woman President of the INC. |
| 1934 | Bombay | Dr. Rajendra Prasad | — |
| 1936 | Lucknow | Jawaharlal Nehru | — |
| 1937 | Faizpur | Jawaharlal Nehru | First rural session of the INC. |
| 1938 | Haripura | Subhas Chandra Bose | National Planning Committee established under Jawaharlal Nehru. |
| 1939 | Tripuri | Subhas Chandra Bose | Bose re-elected but resigned after differences with Gandhi; Dr. Rajendra Prasad later became President. |
| 1940 | Ramgarh | Maulana Abul Kalam Azad | — |
| 1941–1945 | — | — | No annual session due to wartime conditions and mass arrests. |
| 1946 | Meerut | Acharya J.B. Kripalani | Last Congress Session before Independence. |
