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M. N. Roy, a pioneer of the communist movement in India and an advocate of radical democratism, proposed the notion of a Constituent Assembly for India for the first time. The Indian National Congress (INC) was formed in 1935, urging the formation of a Constituent Assembly to draft the Indian Constitution. Jawaharlal Nehru was born in 1938. From the INC’s end, Nehru announced that “the Constitution of free India must be framed” without influence from outside sources by a Constituent Assembly chosen based on adult suffrage franchise.
The British Government ultimately said yes to the given proposal in principle in what became known as the ‘August Offer’ of 1940. Sir Stafford Cripps, a cabinet member, visited India in 1942 with a draft British Proposal and the creation of a government caused by an independent constitution approved after the 2nd World War. The Muslim League, which wanted India partitioned into two independent states with separate Constituent Assemblies, rejected the Cripps Proposals. Finally, a Cabinet Mission to India was dispatched. While it opposed the concept of two Constituent Assemblies, it proposed a structure towards the assembly of constituents agreed by the league of Muslims.
The Constituent Assembly’s Composition
The Constituent Assembly was established in November 1946 as part of the Cabinet Mission Plan. The scheme’s characteristics were as follows:
- The Constituent Assembly was to have a total of 389 members. British India received 296 seats, while the Princely States would receive 93. A total number of 292 members were supposed to be picked up from the given 11 governor’s provinces, out of which four will form the chief commissioner’s provinces, and one from each of them will be given 296 seats for British India.
- Seats were to be assigned to every state and province, even in the group of states of the event in small states compared to their population. One seat was supposed to be provided for every million people.
- Seats in each British province were to be apportioned in proportion to their numbers to the three major communities—Muslims, Sikhs, and general (all save Muslims and Sikhs).
- Each community has their representation that was elected to be the provincial legislative assembly by the members of that particular community. Voting was to be by proportional representation with a single transferable vote.
- The heads of the princely states were to nominate the delegates of the princely states.
As a result, it is apparent that the Constituent Assembly was to be a body that was half elected and partially appointed. Furthermore, the members were to be elected indirectly by members of the provincial assembly, who were elected on a restricted franchise.
In July–August 1946, elections to the Constituent Assembly (for 296 seats apportioned to British Indian Provinces) were conducted. The Indian National Congress received 208 votes, the Muslim League received 73 votes, and tiny organisations and independents received the remaining 15 votes. However, the 93 seats designated to princely states were not filled since they chose not to participate in the Constituent Assembly.
Although the Constituent Assembly was not directly elected by the people of India using the adult franchise, it had delegates from all elements of Indian society, including Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Anglo–Indians, Indian Christians, SCs, STs, and women from all of these groups. With the absence of Mahatma Gandhi and M A Jinnah, the Assembly contained all of India’s significant figures at the time.
Important Meetings of the Constituent Assembly
The assembly constituent managed to take approximately three years to complete the monumental work of establishing the Constitution of Independent India. During this time, it had eleven sessions totalling 165 days. Of these, 114 days were devoted to deliberating on the Draft Constitution.
An indirect election took place to choose the members of Provincial Legislative Assemblies, in accordance with the Cabinet Mission’s recommendation. The configuration was as follows:
The Provincial Legislative Assemblies chose;
- 292 members
- 93 members were elected to present India’s princely states
- Four members were selected to present the Provinces of the chief commissioners
As a result, the Assembly’s total membership was to be 389. Despite all, a consequence of the Mountbatten plan happened to separate on the 3rd of June in the year 1947. There was a separate constituent assembly that was established for Pakistan, and MPs from multiple areas ceased to become the Assembly’s members. Due to this, the membership of the assembly was decreased to 299.
In conclusion
In 1948, the legislature received the final draft of the constitution. On November 26, 1949, the constituent assembly accepted, enacted, and granted themselves the constitution following further readings.
On the day mentioned above, several provisions of the constitution went into effect. However, most of the laws went into effect on January 26th, 1950. The constitution refers to this day as the “date of its start.” Every year, this day is observed as ‘Republic Day.’
The constitution-makers picked this day to honour the ‘Purna Swaraj,’ which began on January 26th, 1930.
