First formed inDecember 1946 as an advisory body aimed at drafting a constitution for a united and independent India eighteen months before the original June 1948 deadline for independence, it was given sovereign powers to legislate for the Dominion of India (excluding princely states that refused to accede to the Dominion) followingpartition and independence on 15 August 1947 and the abolition of theImperial Legislative Council under the provisions of theIndian Independence Act 1947.
The Constituent Assembly of India, consisting ofindirectly elected representatives, was established to draft a constitution for India (including the now-separate countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh). It existed for approx three years, the first legislature (Dominion Legislature) of India after independence in 1947. The Assembly was not elected based on complete universal adult suffrage, and Muslims andSikhs received special representation as minorities. The Muslim League boycotted the Assembly, although 28 of its members out of 73 ended up joining India's Constituent Assembly. A large part of the Constituent Assembly was drawn from theIndian National Congress Party (69%), and included a wide diversity of ideologies and opinions—from conservatives, progressives, Marxists, liberals and Hindu revivalists. In his classic history of the Indian Constitution, the historian Granville Austin describes the Constituent Assembly as "India in microcosm."[1] Austin shows that although the Constituent Assembly was a one-party body in an essentially one-party country, it was representative of India and the "Indian Constitution expresses the will of the many rather than the needs of the few."[2]
Further, as Achyut Chetan has shown in his bookFounding Mothers of the Indian Republic, the women members of the Constituent Assembly "formed a distinct group in that august body, spoke in a distinct feminist parlance, and shared a constitutional vision of justice to such an extent that they can collectively be called the ‘mothers’ of the Indian Constitution."[3] Female members were initially Begum Aizaz Rasul, Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz, Begum Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah, Ammu Swaminathan, Dakshayani Velayaudhan, G. Durgabai, Sucheta Kripalani, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Purnima Banerji, Kamala Chaudhri, Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Leela Roy, and Malati Choudhury. Renuka Ray and Annie Mascarene were later elected as well, and by 1948 the assembly had 17 female members.[4]
The Assembly met for the first time in New Delhi on 9 December 1946, and its last session was held on 24 January 1950.[5] The hope of the Assembly was expressed by Jawaharlal Nehru:
The first task of this Assembly is to free India through a new constitution, to feed the starving people, and to clothe the naked masses, and to give every Indian the fullest opportunity to develop himself according to his capacity. This is certainly a great task. Look at India today. We, are sitting here and there in despair in many places, and unrest in many cities. The atmosphere is surcharged with these quarrels and feuds which are called communal disturbances, and unfortunately we sometimes cannot avoid them. But at present the greatest and most important question in India is how to solve the problem of the poor and the starving. Wherever we turn, we are confronted with this problem. If we cannot solve this problem soon, all our constitutions will become useless and purposeless. Keeping this aspect in view, who could suggest to us to postpone and wait?
TheIndian National Congress held its session atLucknow in April 1936 presided byJawaharlal Nehru. The official demand for a Constituent Assembly was raised and theGovernment 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 byViceroy Lord Linlithgow about the expansion of theGovernor-General's Executive Council and the establishment of a War Advisory Council. This offer, known as theAugust Offer, included giving full weight to minority opinions and allowing Indians to draft their own constitution. Under theCabinet 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 asingle, transferable-vote system ofProportional representation. The total membership of the Constituent Assembly was 389 of which 292 were representatives of the provinces, 93 represented theprincely states and 4 were from the chief commissioner provinces ofDelhi,Ajmer-Merwara,Coorg andBritish Baluchistan.
Unlike previous elections underBritish Raj where voting was restricted by property and educational qualifications, the elections of 1946, which would further elect representatives to the Assembly, saw the voting franchise extended to a much greater portion of the Indian adult population.[6][7][8]
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 1947Lord Mountbatten, the last BritishGovernor-General of India, announced his intention to scrap the Cabinet Mission Plan; this culminated in theIndian 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 separateConstituent 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 laterseceded to becomeBangladesh); 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 byB. R. Ambedkar.
At 11 AM on 9 December 1946, the Assembly began its first session, with 207 members attending. The Assembly approved the draft constitution on 26 November 1949. On 26 January 1950, the constitution took effect (commemorated asRepublic Day), and the Constituent Assembly became the Provisional Parliament of India (continuing until after the first elections under the new constitution in 1952). The members of the Constituent Assembly became the members of the Provisional Parliament from 1950 to 1952.
Ambedkar and other members of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution on Aug. 29, 1947.
Rajendra Prasad was elected as the president andHarendra Coomar Mookerjee, a Christian from Bengal and former vice-chancellor ofCalcutta University, was vice-president. Mookerjee, additionally to chairing the assembly's Minorities Committee, was appointed governor of West Bengal after India became a republic. JuristB. N. Rau was appointed constitutional adviser to the assembly; Rau prepared the original draft of the constitution and was later appointed a judge in thePermanent Court of International Justice inThe Hague.
The assembly's work had five stages:
Committees presented reports on issues.
B. N. Rau prepared an initial draft based on the reports and his research into the constitutions of other nations.
The drafting committee, chaired byB. R. Ambedkar, presented a detailed draft constitution which was published for public discussion.
The draft constitution was discussed, and amendments were proposed and enacted.
The constitution was adopted, with a committee of experts led by the Congress Party (known as the Congress Assembly Party) played a pivotal role.[9]
Timeline of Formation of the Constitution of India
16 May 1946: The Cabinet Mission Plan lays down the composition and structure of the Constituent Assembly
July 1946: Completion of elections to the Constituent Assembly; 296 members from British India (undivided) and 93 members from 20 independent Indian states elected.
11 July 1946: B N Rau appointed adviser to Constituent Assembly
9 December 1946: Formation of the Constituent Assembly (demanding a separate state, the Muslim League boycotted the meeting)
11 December 1946: President Appointed – Rajendra Prasad, vice-chairmanHarendra Coomar Mookerjee and constitutional legal adviserB. N. Rau (initially 389 members in total, which declined to 299 afterpartition. Out of 389, 292 were from government provinces, 4 from chief commissioner provinces and 93 from princely states)
13 December 1946: An 'Objective Resolution' was presented byJawaharlal Nehru, laying down the underlying principles of the constitution, which later became thePreamble of the constitution.
22 January 1947: Objective resolution unanimously adopted.
27 February 1947: First meeting of the Sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights. This sub-committee has 12 members of which two are women – Hansa Mehta and Amrit Kaur.[10]
16 April 1947: Report of the Sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights submitted to the Advisory Committee
16–19 April 1947: The Sub-Committee on Minorities examines the Report on Fundamental Rights and gives its recommendations
21–22 April 1947: Vigorous debates in the Advisory Committee on the reports of the two sub-committees
23 April 1947: The Advisory Committee submits its report; directive principles not yet finalized[11]
26 November 1949: 'Constitution of India' passed and adopted by the assembly.
24 January 1950: Last meeting of the Constituent Assembly. 'The Constitution of India' (with 395 articles, 8 schedules, 22 parts) was signed and accepted by all.
26 January 1950: The 'Constitution of India' came into force after 2 years, 11 months, and 18 Days, at a total expenditure of ₹64 lakhs (6.4 million) to finish.
The Constituent Assembly appointed a total of 22 committees to deal with different tasks of constitution-making. Out of these, Eight were major committees and the others were minor committees.
The constitution, has been in recent times, due political differences, criticised on the basis that the members of the Constituent Assembly were not completely chosen byuniversal suffrage, but rather were elected by provincial assemblies.[citation needed] In his bookThe Constitution of India: Miracle, Surrender, Hope, Rajeev Dhavan tried to argue that the Indian people did not have much say in the making of the Constitution, which they had no choice but to accept.[14]
Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Chairman of Union Powers committee, Chairman of Union Constitution Committee, Chairman of States Committee & Chairman of Special Committee to Examine the Draft Constitution (Constitution Assembly Committees), 1st Prime Minister of Independent India
Vallabhbhai Patel, Chairman of Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas(constitutional committee, The first Home Minister of India and the first Deputy Prime Minister of India
Jawaharlal Nehru and other members taking pledge during the midnight session of the Constituent Assembly of India held on 14 and 15 August 1947.
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, chairman, with other members of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly of India, on 29 August 1947.
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, chairman of the Drafting Committee, presenting the final draft of the Indian Constitution to Dr. Rajendra Prasad, President of constituent assembly on 25 November 1949.
Constituent Assembly of India.
Jawaharlal Nehru addressing the constituent assembly in 1946.
^Granville Austin,The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation, Oxford University Press, 1966, pp 8
^Granville Austin,The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation, Oxford University Press, 1966, page 9
^Achyut Chetan,Founding Mothers of the Indian Republic: Gender Politics of the Framing of the Constitution, Cambridge University Press, 2023, page 3
^Achyut Chetan,Founding Mothers of the Indian Republic: Gender Politics of the Framing of the Constitution, Cambridge University Press, 2023, pages 42-43
^Laxmikanth, M. (2010).Indian Polity : For civil services examinations. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited.ISBN978-0-07-015316-5.OCLC644364729.
^Stern, Robert W. (2001).Democracy and dictatorship in South Asia: dominant classes and political outcomes in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Westport, Conn: Praeger. p. 37.ISBN978-0-275-97041-3.
^Palshikar, Sanjay (2006)."The Promise of Democracy:'Democracy'in the Pre-independence India".Project on State of Democracy in South Asia as Part of the Qualitative Assessment of Democracy Lokniti (Programme of Comparative Democracy). Delhi: Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. Citeseer.
