Constituent Assembly of India

In this article, we will tell you in detail about the Constituent Assembly of India. We all have heard about this body but very few know how it was formed and what they do? If you are one of them then read this article till the end.

How was the Constituent Assembly of India Formed?

The Constituent Assembly of India was originally formed to frame the Constitution of India. Provincial Assembly were the ones who elected this committee. M. N. Roy, a pioneer of the Communist movement in India was the first person who proposed the idea of the Constituent Assembly in 1934. This idea was later proposed by the Indian National Congress in 1935.

There was a session held by the Indian National Congress presided by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in April 1935 at Lucknow. During this session, the members of Congress raised an official demand for the Constituent Assembly. Although this demand was rejected. 

In 1938, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru made an impactful statement regarding the Constitution and Assembly, ‘The constitution of free India must be framed, without outside interference, by a constituent assembly elected based on adult franchise’ 

Later on, C. Rajagopalachari who was an independence activist and at the same time an Indian statesman, writer and lawyer raised his voice for the making of Constituent Assembly of India on 15 November 1939. 

The British accepted the demand for a Constituent Assembly through their ‘August offer’ of 1940. The elections for the Assembly were held for the first time under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946. To fulfill the purpose of its making, the Constituent Assembly framed the Constitution of India and implemented it on 16 May 1946.

How were Members of the Constituent Assembly Elected?

The Provincial Assembly elected the members of the Constituent Assembly Of India by a single, transferable-vote system. The total number of members of the Assembly were 389. Among these members 292 represented the provinces, 93 were the representatives of the princely states and 4 were from the chief commissioner provinces: Delhi, British Baluchistan, Coorg and Ajmer-Merwara.

The elections that were assigned to the British Indian provinces for the 296 seats were completed by August 1946. In this election, Congress won the majority of the seats: 208. On the other hand, Muslim League had only won 73 seats. As they have lost in this election, the Muslim League refused to work with Congress and the political situation got worse. The Hindu-Muslim riots began and the Muslims demanded their own Constituent Assembly for Muslims.

On 9 December 1946, the Constituent Assembly of India met for the first time. Later on, they reassembled again on 14 August 1947 as a sovereign body.

Due to the partition between India and Pakistan, a separate constituent assembly of Pakistan was framed on 3 June 1947. Since a new assembly was formed, new elections were held for West Punjab and East Bengal. West Punjab became part of Pakistan and East Bengal became Bangladesh.

After this reorganization, the total members of the Constituent Assembly were 299 and they framed the Constitution of India. On 9 December 1946, these delegates sat for 2 years 11 months and 18 days to discuss what things and laws should be included in the Constitution. Over these two years, the Constituent Assembly had 11 sessions. This committee was chaired by B. R. Ambedkar.

Functions of the Constituent Assembly of India:

• Frame the Constitution of India and make sure that everyone in the country gets equal rights and opportunities.
• The assembly adopted the National flag on July 22, 1947.
• Enact the laws
• In May 1949 the assembly approved India’s membership in the British Commonwealth.
• On January 24, 1950, Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected the first President of India through this committee.
• Adopted both the National anthem and National Song on January 24, 1950.

Criticism of the Constituent Assembly of India:

The major criticism of the Constituent Assembly of India was that it was not formed by universal suffrage. Many feel that it was dominated by Congress members and lawyer-politicians. There were allegations that since the Constituent Assembly was formed during the British order it was not a sovereign body. The committee took an unreasonable time to frame the Constitution. The committee consisted majorly of Hindus.

Are all these criticisms true? Not at all! The constituent assembly consisted of members from all the religions, castes and cultures of the society. This means that equal opportunity is given to all. The time taken by the constituent assembly to frame the Constitution is reasonable since India is a big country and they have to account for people from all the sections of the society. 

The secular provisions in the Constitution is a proof that the Constitution gave equal rights and opportunities to everyone irrespective of their caste and religion.

Conclusion

The formation of the Constituent Assembly was necessary since India urgently needed a body that can frame and enact laws. The assembly took a lot of great initiatives and made laws that guaranteed equal respect to all. There were a lot of difficulties in the formation of the Constituent Assembly. 

But, in the end, due to the support of all the Indians and prime leaders, the assembly was finally formed. The Constituent Assembly consisted of members from all sections of the society. They played a major role in the formation of the Constitution.