In this post, we are providing detailed information about how the Constituent Assembly and the Constitution of the Indian Constitution were provided. This is an important topic of Indian polity that every student must read, in this you will get to read about the formation of the Constituent Assembly, action, objective proposal etc.
Constituent Assembly and making of Indian Constitution
● The first demand for constitution making was made by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1895 through “Swaraj Bill”.
In the year 1916, the Home Rule League movement was started in which the demand for “Home rule” was made from the British.
● In 1922, Gandhiji made a strong demand for a Constituent Assembly and constitution making and said that whenever India gets independence, the constitution of India will be made according to the wishes of the Indian people.
● In August, 1928, the Nehru Report was prepared, which was presided over by Pt. Motilal Nehru in Bombay. Under this, the first written constitution of British India was made, in which the provisions of fundamental rights, rights of minorities and All India federation and Dominion Status were kept. The strongest opposition to this was made by the Muslim League and the Princely State.
● In 1929, the Lahore session of the Congress was held under the chairmanship of Jawaharlal Nehru, in which the demand for complete independence was made.
● In 1934, Manvendranath Roy put forth the demand for the formation of the Constituent Assembly.
● In 1936, the Faizpur session of the Congress was organized in which the demand for constitution making was made by the Constituent Assembly elected for the first time from the platform of the Congress.
● In 1940, the British Government by accepting the demand of the Constituent Assembly in principle, sent the August Resolution to India. But the Congress and the Muslim League rejected it.
● In March 1942, after the circumstances arising out of the Second World War, the Cripps Mission was sent to India. It promised to accept the demand for responsible governance in India after the war. But here also the concept of ‘Dominion Status’ was kept.
● Which was rejected by the Congress League and Gandhiji and Gandhiji called this mission ‘Post Dated Cheque’. That is, English is such a bankrupt bank that can fail at any time in future.
● In view of the disorder of governance in India, the then Viceroy Lord Wavell called an all–party meeting in Shimla in June 1945, which did not reach any logical conclusion. This conference is known as ‘Shimla Conference’ or Wavell Plan.
In March 1946, the Cabinet Mission was sent to India. It was presided over by ‘Sir Pethick Lawrence’ and two other members were Sir Stafford Cripps and AV Alexander.
| Party | Seats |
| Indian National Congress | 208 |
| Muslim League | 73 |
| Scheduled caste Federation | 1 |
| Krishak Praja Party | 1 |
| Unionist Party | 1 |
| Unionist SC | 1 |
| Unionist Muslim | 1 |
| Communist Party | 1 |
| Non–Congress Sikhs | 1 |
| Independent | 8 |
| Total | 296 |
Constitution of Constituent Assembly as per Cabinet Mission Plan (1946)
● According to the Cabinet Mission, the Constituent Assembly was to be constituted by partly elected and partly nominated members. The members were to be indirectly elected by the legislature of the provinces.
● The total number of members of the Constituent Assembly was fixed at 389, out of which 292 would be from the British Provinces and 4 Chief Commissionerates (Ajmer–Merwara, Delhi, Coorg (Karnataka), Baluchistan) and 93 from the princely states.
● The allocation of seats was done on the basis of population. On an average, one seat was fixed for a population of 10 lakhs.
● The constituencies for elections from the British Provinces were divided into the following 3 parts:
(1) Muslim (2) Sikh (3) General
● Proportional representation system and single transferable vote system were selected for election from each community.
● Representatives of the princely states were to be nominated by their Ruler.
Framing of Constituent Assembly
● According to the Cabinet Mission Plan, elections were held for 296 seats in the Constituent Assembly in July–August 1946, out of which 208 seats were won by Congress, 73 by Muslim League and 15 by other members.
● On 20 November 1946, the Viceroy announced the formation of the Constituent Assembly and invited all the representatives to attend the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly on 9 December 1946.
Note – Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was elected from Jaisur Kulna (East Bengal) but his membership ended after the partition. Therefore, again elected to the Constituent Assembly from the Bombay province on behalf of the Congress.
Proceedings of the Constituent Assembly
● The Muslim League boycotted the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly on 9 December 1946. A total of 207 members were present in the first meeting, out of which 10 were women.
● Dr. Sanchidanand Sinha was appointed as the Provisional President of the Constituent Assembly on the proposal of Acharya Kriplani, this appointment was made in accordance with the French tradition as the senior most member.
● On December 11, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was unanimously elected as the permanent president.
● SC Mukherjee (of British India) and VT Krishnamachari (of the princely states) were made the vice–presidents of the constituent assembly.
● Constituent Assembly appointed BN Rao as constitutional advisor and HVR Iyengar as secretary.
| Party | Seats |
| Hindu | 55 |
| Muslim | 80 |
| Scheduled Caste | 31 |
| Backward Tribes | 6 |
| Indian Christian | 6 |
| Sikh | 4 |
| Anglo–Indian | 3 |
| Parsiya | 3 |
| Total | 296 |
Position of Constituent Assembly seats after partition
| Province | Seats |
| Indian Provinces | 229 |
| Princely States | 70 |
| Total | 299 |
Objective Resolution
● The Objectives Resolution was presented in the Constituent Assembly on 13 December 1946 by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It incorporated all the aspirations and values of the Constitution.
● The Objectives Resolution was passed by the Constituent Assembly on January 22, 1947.
● Objectives– It was mentioned in the resolution that India is an independent and sovereign republic.
● All the powers of its constitution and the source of power is the people of India.
● Social, religious, political justice for all citizens of India
● The fundamental freedoms of speech, expression, belief, religion, worship, vocation, organization and action shall be guaranteed and protected, subject to dignity and opportunity and equality before the law and within the limits of law and public morality.
● Minorities, backward and tribal areas, Dalits and other backward classes will be given proper security.
● There were 15 women members in the Constituent Assembly which are as follows–
1. Sarojini Naidu
2. Sucheta Kriplani
3. Princess Amrita Kaur
4. Vijayalakshmi Pandit
5. Hansaraj Mehta
6. Durgabai Deshmukh
7. Begum Ejaz Rasool (Muslim member)
8. Kamala Choudhary
9. Dakshayani Velayudyan
10. Malti Choudhary
11. Poornima Banerjee
12. Annie Muscini (nominated)
13. Ammu Swaminathan
14. Leela Roy
15. Renuka Roy
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