---
title: "Lucknow Pact (1916): Congress–League Agreement"
description: "The Lucknow Pact (1916) united Congress and the Muslim League on joint demands, marking a crucial moment for UPSC aspirants in Indian political history."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/lucknow-pact-1916"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- The Lucknow Pact was a 1916 agreement between the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League establishing joint constitutional demands and accepting separate electorates for Muslims.
- Why did the Congress accept separate electorates in the Lucknow Pact?
- How did the Lucknow Pact differ from the Nehru Report of 1928?
- What was the communal veto provision in the Lucknow Pact?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

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### Indian National Congress

The Lucknow Pact was concluded in December 1916, when the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League held their annual sessions concurrently in Lucknow and ratified a common scheme of constitutional reform. Its legal and political foundation lay in the discontent generated by the Morley–Minto Reforms of 1909 (the Indian Councils Act, 1909), which had introduced separate electorates for Muslims but offered only limited legislative participation. The pact emerged from negotiations conducted largely by a joint committee of the two organisations, with Bal Gangadhar Tilak representing the resurgent Congress (recently reunited after the 1907 Surat Split) and Muhammad Ali Jinnah—then a member of both bodies and styled the "ambassador of Hindu–Muslim unity"—steering the League. The First World War, the suspension of British liberal goodwill, and the annulment of the 1905 partition of Bengal in 1911 had together shifted Muslim opinion toward cooperation with Congress.

### All-India Muslim League

The Lucknow Pact was concluded in December 1916, when the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League held their annual sessions concurrently in Lucknow and ratified a common scheme of constitutional reform. Its legal and political foundation lay in the discontent generated by the Morley–Minto Reforms of 1909 (the Indian Councils Act, 1909), which had introduced separate electorates for Muslims but offered only limited legislative participation. The pact emerged from negotiations conducted largely by a joint committee of the two organisations, with Bal Gangadhar Tilak representing the resurgent Congress (recently reunited after the 1907 Surat Split) and Muhammad Ali Jinnah—then a member of both bodies and styled the "ambassador of Hindu–Muslim unity"—steering the League. The First World War, the suspension of British liberal goodwill, and the annulment of the 1905 partition of Bengal in 1911 had together shifted Muslim opinion toward cooperation with Congress.

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In December 1916 at Lucknow, Bal Gangadhar Tilak for the Congress and Muhammad Ali Jinnah for the Muslim League ratified joint reform demands, with Congress accepting separate electorates for the first time.

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