Constituent Assembly of India

The Constituent Assembly of India was partly elected and partly nominated body to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the Provincial assemblies of British India following the Provincial Assembly elections held in 1946 and nominated by Assembly elections held in 1946 and nominated by princely states. After India's independence from the British in August 1947, its members served as the nation's 'Provisional Parliament', as well as the Constituent Assembly. It was conceived and created by V. K. Krishna Menon, who first outlined its necessity in 1933 and enshrined it as an Indian National Congress demand.[1] The Indian national congress held its session at Lucknow in April 1936 presided by Jawaharlal Nehru. The official demand for a Constituent Assembly was raised and the Government of India Act, 1935 was rejected as it was an imposition on the people of India. C. Rajagopalachari again voiced the demand for a Constituent Assembly on 15 November 1939 based on adult franchise, and was accepted by the British in August 1940. On 8 August 1940, a statement was made by Viceroy Lord Linlithgow about the expansion of the Governor-General's Executive Council and the establishment of a War Advisory Council. This offer, known as the August Offer, included giving full weight to minority opinions and allowing Indians to draft their own constitution. Under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946, elections were held for the first time for the Constituent Assembly. The Constitution of India was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, and it was implemented under the Cabinet Mission Plan on 16 May 1946. The members of the Constituent Assembly of India were elected by the Provincial Assemblies by a single, transferable-vote system of Proportional representation. The total membership of the Constituent Assembly was 389 of which 292 were representatives of the provinces, 93 represented the princely states and 4 were from the chief commissioner provinces of Delhi, Ajmer-Merwara, Coorg and British Baluchistan. Unlike previous elections under British raj where voting was restricted by property and educational qualifications,the elections of 1946, which would further elect representatives to the Constituent Assembly of India, saw the voting franchise extended to a much greater portion of the Indian adult population.[2][3][4] The elections for the 296 seats assigned to the British Indian provinces were completed by August 1946. Indian national congress won 208 seats (69%), and the Muslim League 73. After this election, the Muslim League refused to cooperate with the Congress and the political situation deteriorated. Hindu-Muslim riots began, and the Muslim League demanded a separate constituent assembly for Muslims in India. On 3 June 1947 Lord Mountbatten, the last British Governor-General of India, announced his intention to scrap the Cabinet Mission Plan; this culminated in the Indian Independence Act 1947 and the separate nations of India and Pakistan. The Indian Independence Act was passed on 18 July 1947 and, although it was earlier declared that India would become independent in June 1948, this event led to independence on 15 August 1947. The Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946, reassembling on 14 August 1947 as a sovereign body and successor to the British parliament's authority in India. As a result of the partition, under the Mountbatten plan, a separate Constituent Assembly of Pakistan was established on 3 June 1947. The representatives of the areas incorporated into Pakistan ceased to be members of the Constituent Assembly of India. New elections were held for the West Punjab and East Bengal (which became part of Pakistan, although East Bengal later seceded to become Bangladesh); the membership of the Constituent Assembly of India was 299 after the reorganization, and it met on 31 December 1947. The constitution was drafted by 299 delegates from different castes, regions, religions, gender etc. These delegates sat over 114 days spread over 3 years (2 years 11 months and 18 days to be precise) and discussed what the constitution should contain and what laws should be included. The Drafting Committee of the Constitution was chaired by B. R. Ambedkar. The demand for a Constituent Assembly to draft a constitution for India was a core strand of the anti-colonial freedom movement. The Assembly was created in 1946 by the British Cabinet Mission Plan, which also contained provisions on the Assembly’s functioning and composition. While Hindus (94.6%) dominated the Assembly, members from other major religious communities also found a place in the Constituent Assembly. These included Christians, Parsees, Sikhs and Muslims represented by individuals like Frank Anthony, Minoo Masani, G Gurmukh Singh, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. On the gender front, the Assembly was male-dominated; only 15 members were women. Some of the key women Assembly members included Hansa Mehta, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Dakshayani Velayudhan. We do not have sufficient data to get a sense of the exact caste composition. However, it appears that the Assembly was dominated by upper castes. That is not to say that members from lower-caste backgrounds were not represented. B.R. Ambedkar, who arguably played the most critical role in the Assembly, was a Dalit. Other Dalit members included S. Nagappa and Dakshayani Velayudhan, who incidentally was the only Dalit woman in the Assembly. 229 members of the Assembly came from the 12 British Indian provinces to the Constituent Assembly. The Princely States were represented by 70 individuals. Six members were from the backward tribes. Close to 80% of members were elected on a Congress ticket, but there was great ideological diversity within the party. This can be said of the Constituent Assembly as a whole as well. K.T. Shah was a socialist and came from the left, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, President of the Hindu Mahasabha, was from the right, and so was Thakur Das Bhargava and K.M. Munshi. There were liberals too, like Minoo Masani. ...view more