The Constituent Assembly for India was put forward by MN Roy in 1934 and many efforts like august offer,cripps plan etc.were made  and finally, a Cabinet Mission was sent to India and the Constituent Assembly was constituted in November 1946 under the scheme formulated by the Cabinet Mission Plan.

Constituent Assembly

• The Constituent Assembly was formed on the basis of the population, for every 10 lakh people there was one representative.

• So there were 389 representatives who w from entire India to form this assembly

Out Of These 389

• 296 representatives were from the British India and 93 from Princely States.

• 4 were from chief commissioner proviances.

The Constituent Assembly was not elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage, and Muslims and Sikhs received special representation as minorities.

Selection Procedure Of Membership

1. The Provinces elected 292 members while the Indian States were allotted a maximum of 93 seats.

2. The seats in each province were distributed among the three main committees Muslim, Sikh, and General, in proportion to their respective population.

3. Members of each community in the Provincial Legislative Assembly elected their own representatives by the method of proportional representation with a single transferable vote.

4. The representatives of princely states were to be nominated by the heads of the princely states.

This shows that it was partially elected(indirect) and partially nominated body

Elections Of Constituent Assembly

• During its election congress won - 208 seats,muslim league -73 and remaining to independent.

• After partition muslim league withdrew their membership and Total strength of Muslim League went to -299

Sessions Of Constituent Assembly

First Meeting -

• It was held on 9th December 1946.

• The first temporary two day president of the Constituent Assembly was Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha

Second Meeting -

• The second meeting of the Constituent Assembly was on 11thDecember, 1946 where in Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the president,Harendra Coomar Mookerjee as the vice-president and Benegal Narsing Rao as the constitutional advisor of the Constituent Assembly.

• On the 13th of December, 1946 Jawaharlal Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution highlighting basic objectives and principles of the constitution The Constituent Assembly adopted the resolution on 22 January 1947

Committee's Of Constituent Assembly

The constitutional assembly have formed different committee's to deal with different matters related to constitution amd these committee's were

1.Drafting Committee – Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

2.Union Powers Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru.

3.Union Constitution Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru

4.Provincial Constitution Committee – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

5.Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

This committee had the following subcommittees :

A.Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee - J.B. Kripalani.

B.Minorities Sub-Committee - Harendra Coomar Mookerjee.

C.North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partially Excluded Areas Sub-Committee – Gopinath Bardoloi

D.Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other than those in Assam) Sub-Committee – A V Thakkar

6. Rules of Procedure Committee- Dr. Rajendra Prasad

7. States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) – Jawaharlal Nehru.

8. Steering Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad

9.House Committee - B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya

10.Order of Business Committee -K.M. Munshi

Drafting Committee

• It was most important committee and had seven members and was set up on set up on August 29, 1947.

It was this committee that was entrusted with the task of preparing a draft of the new Constitution. Members of this committee were:

• B.R. Ambedkar (Chairman).

• Gopalaswamy Ayyangar.

• Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar.

• K.M. Munshi.

• Syed Mohammad Saadullah.

• Madhava Rau (He replaced B.L. Mitter who resigned due to ill-health).

• T. Krishnamachari (He replaced D.P. Khaitan who died in 1948)

General Facts about Constituent Assembly-

• Sessions- Constituent Assembly had 11 sessions.

• Time- two years, 11 months and 18 days. -The Constitution-makes had gone through the constitutions of about 60 countries, and the Draft Constitution was considered for 114 days.

• Expenditure -The total expenditure incurred on making the Constitution amounted to Rs 64 lakh.

• Final Session- On January 24, 1950, the Constituent Assembly held its final session. It, however, did not end and continued as the provisional parliament of India from January 26, 1950, till the formation of new Parliament after the first general elections in 1951-52.

First Draft Of The Constitution Of India

The Drafting Committee prepared the first draft of the Constitution of India, which was published in February, 1948.

• The people of India were given eight months to discuss the draft and propose amendments.

• Drafting Committee prepared a second draft, which was published in October, 1948.

• The Drafting Committee took less than six months to prepare its draft.

• In all, drafting committee sat only for 141 days.

Other Functions Performed By Constitutional Assembly

1. It adopted the national flag on July 22, 1947.

2.It rectified the membership enrolment in the commonwealth in May 1949.

3. It adopted the national anthem on January 24, 1950.

4. It adopted the national song on January 24, 1950.

5. It elected Dr Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India on January 24, 1950.

Some facts

1.Final adoption, enactment through signing by Chairman of Assembly; and partial commencement - November 26, 1949

• on this date it contained a Preamble, 395 Articles and 8 Schedules. The Preamble was enacted after the entire Constitution was already enacted. The remaining provisions of the Constitution came into force on 26th jan.

2.Signing of calligraphed version of the Constitution by all members of Assembly -January 24, 1950

3.Commencement of constitution- January 26,1950

Why 26th Jan-

• This date was most probably chosen to commemorate the declaration of ‘Poorna Swaraj’ by Nehru at an annual session of the Congress in Lahore in 1929.

Criticism of Constituent Assembly

• It was Not a representative body- because as already discussed above that it was not directly elected.

• It was Not a sovereign body- because it was was formed by British government’s proposal.

• Dominated by Hindus- It was believed to be dominated by Congress and Hindus.

• Time consuming - It was deemed time consuming and took lots of time for framing of constitution