Constituent Assembly of India

The first official call for a constituent assembly for the constitution of India was put forward by MN Roy, in 1935.

The demand for the assembly was first accepted by the British in the 1940 August Offer. Finally, the constituent assembly was established under the Cabinet Mission Plan (1946).

Historical Background of the Constituent Assembly –

• First given by MN Roy in 1934
• Officially taken up by Congress in 1935
• August Offer of British accepted the demand of forming a constituent assembly
• Elections held for formation of constituent assembly in 1946 under the Cabinet Mission Plan
• Members in the assembly were indirectly elected
  • Members of the provincial assembly elected the members of constituent assembly using a single transferable vote of prop.

Working of the Constituent Assembly

To begin with, the Constituent Assembly worked on a lot of fundamental ideas and agreed upon it. Further, under the Chairmanship of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, a Drafting Committee drafted a constitution to be debated upon. The Draft Constitution was debated clause by clause, inflicting 2000 modifications. The debates had been well documented and preserved.

• First meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held on December 9, 1946.
• Muslim League boycotted the first meeting.
• Sachichidanand Sinha was the temporary president in the first meeting.
• Dr Rajendra Prasad was held the President after the first elections in the Constituent Assembly were held.
  • HC Mukherjee was chosen the Vice-President.
• BN Rau was appointed the constitutional advisor.
• Muslim League members, who were part of the Indian territory, participated in the proceedings post passing of Mountbatten Plan.
  • Even members of the Princely states participated, who had initially stayed away from the assembly proceedings.
• There were a total of 11 sessions held over 2 years, 11 months and 18 days.
• Constituent Assembly held its last session on January 24, 1950.

Historical Timeline of the Enactment of the Constitution

• 1922 – Annie Besant pitched the idea to convene a constitution framing body.
• 1925 – Indian Commonwealth Bill introduced in the British Parliament.
• 1928 – Motilal Nehru Report released.
• 1930-32 – Three Round Table Conference.
• 1934 – MN Roy’s proposal of a constituent assembly.
• 1940 – August Offer granted the request of forming a constituent assembly.
• 1946 – Constituent Assembly created under the provisions of Cabinet Mission.

Enactment

• 1946 (November) – Assembly was formed.
• 1946 (December) – Assembly met first on December 9, 1946.
• 1947 (January) – Objective Resolution proposed by Jawaharlal Nehru was passed.
• 1947 (August) – Indian Independence Act, 1947 was passed.
• 1947 (November) – Members of the Assembly met for the first time in independent and sovereign India.
• 1948 (November) – First reading of final draft of the Constitution.
• 1948-49 (November – October) – Second reading of final draft of the Constitution.
• 1949 (November) – Third reading of the final draft of the Constitution.
• November 26, 1949 – Draft Constitution was passed and signed by members.
• 1950 (January) – Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950 and India became a republic.

Criticism of the Constituent Assembly

• The prime criticism is that the Constituent Assembly wasn’t a representative body as most of the members were either nominated, or elected by people who were themselves elected on limited franchise.
• The Constitution making process was too time taking.
• Congress party dominated the Constituent Assembly.
• Lawyer Language used due to a number of lawyers in the constituent assembly resulted in a complicated language of the Constitution.
• The Constituent Assembly was Hindu dominated.

Even though the Constituent Assembly was indirectly elected, it made sure that all the communities were represented. The time-consuming process of the Constitution made sure that none of the important provisions to help with an inclusive society isn’t missed.