Until 1919, the Congress as an organization did not have much connection with the grass roots. However, following the First World War, two broad factors contributed to the change in its structure. The Act of 1919 widened the franchise, which made Congress eager to extend its organizational network to provincial and district levels. This period also saw a considerable section of the Indian people being drawn into nationalist politics. The Congress could not ignore these changes. Therefore, when faced with the problem of adopting a new scheme of agitation in 1920, the Congress had to reform its constitution to gain a broad-based and permanent character.

On the final day of the Congress session at Nagpur in December 1920, delegates approved a new constitution for the Congress committee. The British Committee of Congress was dissolved along with its paper India. This marked the end of the politics of petitions. Henceforth, Congress leaders were to concentrate more on their own actions within India than on playing to the British gallery.

The new Congress constitution proposed the establishment of a working committee of 15 members, which was to function as a permanent Congress executive. From a loose federation of 200 members, the Congress became a more active and permanent organization. Congress circles were reorganized on a linguistic basis so as to extend the roots of its organization to the subdivision and taluka level.