Constituent Assembly

4 min read

Constituent Assembly

  • [!] 11 sessions over 2 years 11 months 18 days
  • [!] reference was taken from 60 constitutions around the world

Timeline

  • 1934 - Idea for the constituent assembly was given by M.N. Roy

  • 1935 - Indian National Congress demanded constituent assembly

  • 1938 - Jawaharlal Nehru said, "Constitution of free India will be framed without outside interference"

  • 1940 - August offer - The British accepted the demand for constituent assembly

  • 1942 - Cripps proposal - Draft for framing Indian constitution and adopting it after world war II

  • March, 1946 - Cabinet Mission - Rejected the idea of 2 constituent assembly and proposed a single constituent assembly which also satisfied the muslim league.

  • November, 1946 - constituent assembly was constituted, but Gandhi was not a part of it .

Strength

Total 389 = 296 + 93

93 = princely states members who were nominated

296 = from British India

  • method of proportional representation by means of single transferrable vote
  • constituent assembly was partly elected and partly nominated
  • indirectly elected with limited franchise

296 = 292 + 4

4 = Commissionerate provinces

  1. Delhi
  2. Coorg
  3. Ajmer - Merwara
  4. British Baluchistan

292 = from 11 governor provinces

  1. Madras
  2. Bombay
  3. United provinces
  4. Bihar
  5. Bengal
  6. Central provinces
  7. Orissa
  8. Punjab
  9. Sindh
  10. North West Frontier province
  11. Assam

Working

  • 9 December 1946 - 1st meeting of the constituent assembly which was attended by 211 members out of 389

  • Temporary president - Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha (oldest member)

  • Later, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as president

  • H.C. Mukherjee and V.T. Krishnamachari were elected as vice presidents

  • 13 December 1946 - Jawaharlal Nehru moved the objective resolution

  • 22 January 1947 - Objective resolution was unanimously adopted

  • 3 June 1947 - Mount Batten plan = Indian Independence Act, 1947

Objective resolution

  • Independent , Sovereign, Republic
  • India, shall be a union of them all
  • Power and authority derived from people
  • Justice - social , economic, and political
  • Equality of status and opportunity and before the law
  • Freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, vocation, association and action, subject to law and public morality.
  • safeguards for minorities, backwards and tribal areas.
  • Integrity of the territory
  • Promotion of world peace and welfare of the mankind

Committees of the Constituent assembly

Major Committees

NumberName of the major committeesChairmanSub committees
1.Union power committeeJawaharlal Nehru
2.Union constitution committeeJawaharlal Nehru
3.States committee for negotiating with the statesJawaharlal Nehru
4.Provincial constitution committeeSardar Vallabhbhai Patel
5.Rules of procedure committeeDr. Rajendra Prasad
6.Steering committeeDr. Rajendra Prasad
7.Drafting committeeDr. B.R. Ambedhkar
8.Advisory committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities, tribal and excluded areasSardar Vallabhbhai Patel5 sub committees

Sub committees of Advisory committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities, tribal and excluded areas:

  1. Fundamental Rights committee - JB Kripalani
  2. Minorities - HC Mukherjee
  3. North East Frontier Tribal areas and Assam excluded and partially excluded areas - Gopinath Bardoloi
  4. Excluded and Partially excluded areas (other than in Assam) - AV Thakkar
  5. North West Frontier Province Tribal Areas - not called upon as this region went to Pakistan

Drafting committee

  • 29 August, 1947 - committee was set up

  • 7 members in total.

  • February 1948 - first draft

  • October 1948 - Second draft

  • November 1948 - final draft

  • sat only for 141 days

  • Adopted on 29 November 1949 with Preamble, 395 articles and 8 schedules

  • Signed on 24 January 1950.

Minor committees

NumberName of the minor committeesChairman
1.Linguistic provinces committeeSK Dhar
2.Ad Hoc committee on national flagDr. Rajendra Prasad
3.Special committee to examine the draft constitutionJawaharlal Nehru

Indian Independence Act, 1947

Constituent assembly was made a sovereign body

Constituent assembly also became the legislative body - 1st parliament of Free India

G.V. Mavlankar - Speaker of the legislative body

Both the functions, (making of the constitution and legislative function of the parliament) of the body continued till 26th November 1949.

Strength came down to 299 from 389

Indian states was represented by 229 from 296

Princely states representation reduced from 92 to 70.

22 July, 1947 - National flag was adopted

May 1949 - Common wealth membership was ratified

24 January 1950

  • National Anthem and National song was adopted
  • Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the first president of Free India
  • Final session of constituent assembly was conducted
  • signing of the constitution

26 January 1950 - Republic India was born

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