Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, , was a sociopolitical organisation in British India which started with the aim of working as a mediating body between the government and people of India. It started as an elected body of 95 members elected by 6000 persons on April 2, 1870. The organisation was a precursor to the Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

 which started with its first session from Maharashtra itself. The Poona Sarvajanik Sabha provided many of the prominent leaders of national stature to the Indian freedom struggle including Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Lokmanya Tilak –, was an Indian nationalist, teacher, social reformer and independence fighter who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The British colonial authorities derogatorily called the great leader "Father of the Indian unrest"...

.