What is a Constituent Assembly?

• The Constituent Assembly is an institution specifically conceived for the creation or modification of a
Constitution. The Constituent Assembly has the power to dictate or change the norms that will govern the
functioning of the political and social system of a territory.

• The Constituent Assembly's objective was drafting and formulating the Constitution of India because that
was the only way the self-determination concept could be implemented in India.

What is the historical background of the Constituent Assembly in India?

1934 The idea of a Constituent Assembly for India was put forward for the first time by M.N.Roy, a pioneer of the
communist movement in India.

1935 Indian National Congress first demanded a Constituent Assembly to frame the Constitution of India.

1938 J.L. Nehru declared that the Constitution of free India must be framed, without outside interference, by a
Constituent Assembly elected based on Adult Franchise.

1940 First time in principle, the demand for a Constituent Assembly was accepted by the British in the August offer
of 1940.

1942 Sir Stafford Cripps came to India with a draft proposal to frame an independent Constitution, which was
rejected by the Muslim League.

1946 Cabinet Mission was sent to India, which rejected the idea of two Constituent assemblies. Hence, Elections
were held as per the Cabinet Mission plan of 1946 to establish the Constituent Assembly.

What was the composition of the Constituent Assembly?

• The Constituent Assembly comprised members who were partly elected and partly nominated. The elected
members were indirectly elected by members of the provincial legislative Assembly, who were elected on
the limited franchise.

Total Strength of the Constituent Assembly (389)

British India (296) Princely states (93)

Note: Members of the Muslim League who were originally from Note: The strength of the princely
Pakistani territory withdrew from the Indian Constituent Assembly. As a kingdoms decreased from 93 to 70 when
result, strength decreased from 296 to 229. members of the Muslim League withdrew
from the Indian Constituent Assembly.

• From 11 governors’ • From the four Chief

• Seats allocated to each British province were divided among • Representatives of Princely states
three principal communities- Muslims, Sikhs, and General, in were to be nominated by their
proportion to their population. respective heads.

• The representatives of each community were elected by

What were the developments during the making of the Indian Constitution?

The Indian Constitution was made by the Constituent Assembly, which came into existence as per the provisions of
the Cabinet Mission of May 1946. Its task was to formulate a Constitution for facilitating the appropriate transfer of
sovereign power from British authorities to Indian hands.

• 9 December 1946: The Constituent Assembly sat for the first time.

• 11 December 1946: Rajendra Prasad as President, Harendra Coomar Mookerjee and V.T. Krishnamachari as
the Vice Presidents were elected, and B. N. Rau as Constitutional legal advisor was appointed.

• 13 December 1946: Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the famous "Objective Resolution" in the Assembly,
which laid down the philosophy of the Constitution of India.

o It is geared toward fostering economic and political security in India through a written Constitution
and declaring India a Sovereign, Democratic Republic.

o It fostered the formulation of a federal with the even-handed distribution of powers between the
Centre and the states.

o It strives to secure equality, justice, and freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, association,
and associated action for each subject of the country.

o It is geared toward providing necessary protection to the minority and backward section of society.

o It strives to secure the integrity of the territory of the Indian republic and follow the law of any
civilized nation to secure rights on land, sea, and air.

• 22 January 1947: The Resolution was unanimously adopted by the Assembly.

July 1947- Indian Independence Act, 1947: The Act made the following changes in the position of the Constituent
Assembly:

• The Assembly was given complete autonomy and the power to draft any Constitution it chose.

• The Act gave the Assembly the authority to annul or amend any law passed by the British
Parliament regarding India.

• The Assembly was also given legislative authority. As a result, the Assembly was elected as India's first free
Parliament (Dominion Legislature). Dr. Rajendra Prasad presided over meetings of the Assembly as the
Constituent body, and G.V. Mavlankar presided over those of the Assembly as the Legislative body.

• July - October 1947: Preparation of the first draft by the Constitutional advisor, Constitutional Advisor
started putting together the first draft of the Constitution by aligning the reports already discussed and
adopted.

• 22 July 1947: The Constituent Assembly adopted the National flag.

• October 1947- February 1948: Deliberations in Drafting Committee and resultant draft Constitution, Drafting
committee produced the draft Constitution by February 21, 1948, which contained 315 Articles and 8
Schedules.

• 4 November 1948 - 9 November 1948 (First reading): Drafting committee published the draft Constitution of
India in February 1948. The draft was introduced in the Assembly in November 1948.
 • 15 November 1948 – 17 October 1949 (Second reading): Clause-by-clause draft discussion was conducted in
the Assembly.

• May 1949: The Constituent Assembly accepted and approved India's membership of the
British Commonwealth.

• 14 November 1949 - 26 November 1949 (Third reading): The Assembly finished the third reading.

• 26 November 1949: The Constituent Assembly passed and adopted the Constitution of India.

• 24 January 1950: The Constituent Assembly elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India and,
adopted the National anthem and National song.

When did the Constitution come into force?

• As per the provisions in the Constitution, it formally commenced on January 1950, bringing it into force in its
entirety. This date was chosen to commemorate the declaration of ‘Poorna Swaraj’ by J.L. Nehru at an
annual session of the Congress in Lahore in 1929.

• Some of the Constitution's provisions, included in Articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 324, 366, 367, 379, 380, 388, 391,
392, and 393, relating to citizenship, elections, a provisional parliament, temporary and transitional laws, and
short titles, came into effect on November 26, 1949.

• The remaining provisions of the Constitution took effect on January 26, 1950, and the entire Constitution
was enforced. This day is celebrated as Republic Day.

What were the various committees of the Constituent Assembly?

The Constituent Assembly, at various points during the Constitution-making process, appointed several committees
on different aspects of the Constitution to conduct preliminary research and deliberations within smaller groups.

Organizational Committee

Committee Chairperson

Rules of procedure committee Rajendra Prasad

Steering committee Rajendra Prasad

Staff and finance committee Rajendra Prasad

Credentials committee K. Ayyar

Order of Business committee K. M. Munshi

States (negotiating) committee J. L.Nehru

Flag committee Rajendra Prasad

Committee on functions of Constituent Assembly G. V. Mavlankar

Committee Chairperson

Advisory committee on fundamental rights, minorities, Tribal areas and excluded areas Sardar Patel

Union Powers committee J. L. Nehru

Union Constitution committee J. L. Nehru

Provincial Constitution committee Sardar Patel

Drafting committee Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

Other Sectoral Committees

Committee Chairperson

Ad-hoc committee on citizenship S. Varadachariar

Committee on chief commissioner’s provinces N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar

Experts committee on Financial Provisions of Constitution N. R. Sarkar

Sub-committee on minority safeguards for West Bengal and East Punjab Sardar Patel

What are the criticisms of the Constituent Assembly?

Several scholars and Constitutional experts have criticized the Constituent Assembly on various grounds. These are as
follows:

• Not a representative Body: Its members were not directly elected based on the universal adult franchise.

• Not a Sovereign Body: It was created by the British proposals, and its sessions were held with the permission
of the British Government.

• Time-Consuming: It took an unduly long time to frame the Constitution, on the other hand the American
Constitution was formed in 4 months.

• Dominated by Congress: Granville Austin commented that “The Constituent Assembly was one party body
in an essentially one-party country. The Assembly was the Congress, and the Congress was India".

• Lawyer- Politician Domination: Scholars maintain that they dominated the Constituent Assembly and are not
representative of other sections.

• Dominated by Hindus: Winston Churchill commented that the Constituent Assembly represents "Only one
major community in India".

Despite these criticisms, we may assert that our founding parliament was a collection of India's finest, who helped
make the Indian Constitution the most dependable and wisest among all national Constitutions.