The First Round Table Conference was opened officially by Lord Irwin on November 12, 1930, in London and chaired by the British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald.
The three British political parties were represented by 16 delegates.
There were 57 political leaders from British India and 16 delegates from the princely states.
In total 89 delegates from India attended the Conference.
However, the Indian National Congress, along with Indian business leaders, kept away from the conference.
Many of them were in jail for their participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
The idea of an All-India Federation was moved to the center of the discussion by Tej Bahadur Sapru.
All the groups attending the conference supported this concept.
The Muslim League also supported the federation as it had always been opposed to a strong Centre.
The British agreed that representative government should be introduced on the provincial level.
Dr. Ambedkar demanded a separate electorate for the Untouchables.
The main representatives at the First Round Table Conference:
Government of India – Narendra Nath, Bhupendra Nath Mitra, C. P. Ramaswami Iyer
Universities – Syed Sultan Ahmed, Bisheshwar Dayal Seth
Labour – N. M. Joshi, B. Shiva Rao
Women – Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz, Radhabai Subbarayan
Indian Christians – A. T. Pannirselvam
Sikhs – Sardar Ujjal Singh, Sardar Sampuran Singh
Depressed Classes – Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Rettamalai Srinivasan
Liberals – J. N. Basu, Tej Bahadur Sapru, C. Y. Chintamani, V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, C.H. Setalvad
Hindus – B. S. Moonje, M. R. Jayakar, Diwan Bahadur Raja Narendra Nath
Muslim League – Aga Khan III, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Muhammad Shafi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Muhammad Zafarullah Khan