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allotted to the British Indian Provinces) were held in July-August

1946. The Indian National Congress won 208 seats, the Muslim

League 73 seats and the small groups and independents got the

remaining 15 seats. However, the 93 seats allotted to the princely

states were not filled as they decided to stay away from the

Constituent Assembly.

Although the Constituent Assembly was not directly elected by

the people of India on the basis of adult franchise, the Assembly

comprised representatives of all sections of the Indian society–

Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Anglo-Indians, Indian Christians,

SCs, STs including women of all these sections. The Assembly

included all important personalities of India at that time, with the

WORKING OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

The Constituent Assembly held its first meeting on December 9,

1946. The Muslim League boycotted the meeting and insisted on

a separate state of Pakistan. The meeting was, thus, attended by

only 211 members. Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest

member, was elected as the temporary President of the Assembly,

following the French practice.

Later, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of the

Assembly. Similarly, both H.C. Mukherjee and V.T. Krishnamachari

were elected as the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly. In other

words, the Assembly had two Vice-Presidents.

Objectives Resolution

On December 13, 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru moved the historic

‘Objectives Resolution’ in the Assembly. It laid down the

fundamentals and philosophy of the constitutional structure. It

read:

1. “This Constituent Assembly declares its firm and solemn

resolve to proclaim India as an Independent Sovereign

Republic and to draw up for her future governance a

Constitution:

2. Wherein the territories that now comprise British India, the

territories that now form the Indian States and such other

parts of India as are outside India and the States as well as

other territories as are willing to be constituted into the

independent sovereign India, shall be a Union of them all;

and

3. wherein the said territories, whether with their present

boundaries or with such others as may be determined by the

Constituent Assembly and thereafter according to the law of

the Constitution, shall possess and retain the status of

autonomous units together with residuary powers and

exercise all powers and functions of Government and

administration save and except such powers and functions

4. wherein all power and authority of the sovereign

independent India, its constituent parts and organs of

Government are derived from the people; and

5. wherein shall be guaranteed and secured to all the people of

India justice, social, economic and political; equality of status

of opportunity, and before the law; freedom of thought,

expression, belief, faith, worship, vocation, association and

action, subject to law and public morality; and

6. wherein adequate safeguards shall be provided for

minorities, backward and tribal areas, and depressed and

other backward classes; and

7. whereby shall be maintained the integrity of the territory of

the Republic and its sovereign rights on land, sea and air

according to justice and the law of civilized nations; and

8. This ancient land attains its rightful and honoured place in

the world and makes its full and willing contribution to the

promotion of world peace and the welfare of mankind.”

This Resolution was unanimously adopted by the Assembly on

January 22, 1947. It influenced the eventual shaping of the

constitution through all its subsequent stages. Its modified version

forms the Preamble of the present Constitution.

Changes by the Independence Act

The representatives of the princely states, who had stayed away

from the Constituent Assembly, gradually joined it. On April 28,

1947, representatives of the six states5 were part of the Assembly.

After the acceptance of the Mountbatten Plan of June 3, 1947, for

the partition of the country, the representatives of most of the

other princely states took their seats in the Assembly. The

members of the Muslim League from the Indian Dominion also

entered the Assembly.

The Indian Independence Act of 1947 made the following three

changes in the position of the Assembly:

1. The Assembly was made a fully sovereign body, which could

frame any Constitution it pleased. The act empowered the

Assembly to abrogate or alter any law made by the British

Parliament in relation to India.

2. The Assembly also became a legislative body. In other

words, two separate functions were assigned to the

Assembly, that is, making of the Constitution for free India

and enacting of ordinary laws for the country. These two

tasks were to be performed on separate days. Thus, the

Assembly became the first Parliament of free India

(Dominion Legislature). Whenever the Assembly met as the

Constituent body it was chaired by Dr. Rajendra Prasad and

when it met as the legislative body6 , it was chaired by G.V.

Mavlankar. These two functions continued till November 26,

1949, when the task of making the Constitution was over.

3. The Muslim League members (hailing from the areas7

included in the Pakistan) withdrew from the Constituent

Assembly for India. Consequently, the total strength of the

Assembly came down to 299 as against 389 originally fixed

in 1946 under the Cabinet Mission Plan. The strength of the

Indian provinces (formerly British Provinces) was reduced

from 296 to 229 and those of the princely states from 93 to

70. The state-wise membership of the Assembly as on

December 31, 1947, is shown in Table 2.4 of this chapter.

Other Functions Performed

In addition to the making of the Constitution and enacting of

ordinary laws, the Constituent Assembly also performed the

following functions:

1. It ratified the India’s membership of the Commonwealth in

May 1949.

2. It adopted the national flag on July 22, 1947.

3. It adopted the national anthem on January 24, 1950.

4. It adopted the national song on January 24, 1950.

5. It elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India

on January 24, 1950.

In all, the Constituent Assembly had 11 sessions over two

years, 11 months and 18 days. The Constitution-makers had gone

through the Constitutions of about 60 countries, and the Draft

Constitution was considered for 114 days. The total expenditure

incurred on making the Constitution amounted to ₹64 lakh.

On January 24, 1950, the Constituent Assembly held its final

session. It, however, did not end, and continued as the provisional

parliament of India from January 26, 1950, till the formation of new

COMMITTEES OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

The Constituent Assembly appointed a number of committees to

deal with different tasks of constitution-making. Out of these, eight

were major committees and the others were minor committees.

The names of these committees and their Chairman are given

below:

Major Committees

1. Union Powers Committee - Jawaharlal Nehru

2. Union Constitution Committee -Jawaharlal Nehru

3. Provincial Constitution Committee -Sardar Patel

4. Drafting Committee - Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

5. Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and

Tribal and Excluded Areas - Sardar Patel. This committee

had the following five sub-committees:

(a) Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee - J.B. Kripalani

(b) Minorities Sub-Committee - H.C. Mukherjee

(c) North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded &

Partially Excluded Areas Sub-Committee -Gopinath

Bardoloi

(d) Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (other than those

in Assam) Sub-Committee - A.V. Thakkar

(e) North-West Frontier Tribal Areas Sub-Committee8a

6. Rules of Procedure Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad

7. States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) -

Jawaharlal Nehru

8. Steering Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad

Minor Committees

1. Finance and Staff Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad

2. Credentials Committee - Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar

3. House Committee - B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya

4. Order of Business Committee - Dr. K.M. Munshi

5. Ad-hoc Committee on the National Flag - Dr. Rajendra

Prasad

6. Committee on the Functions of the Constituent Assembly -

G.V. Mavalankar

7. Ad-hoc Committee on the Supreme Court - S. Varadachari

(Not an Assembly Member)

8. Committee on Chief Commissioners’ Provinces - B. Pattabhi

Sitaramayya

9. Expert Committee on the Financial Provisions of the Union

Constitution -Nalini Ranjan Sarkar (Not an Assembly

Member)

10. Linguistic Provinces Commission - S.K. Dar (Not an

Assembly Member)

11. Special Committee to Examine the Draft Constitution -

Jawaharlal Nehru

12. Press Gallery Committee - Usha Nath Sen

13. Ad-hoc Committee on Citizenship - S. Varadachari (Not an

Assembly Member)

Drafting Committee

Among all the committees of the Constituent Assembly, the most

important committee was the Drafting Committee set up on

August 29, 1947. It was this committee that was entrusted with the

task of preparing a draft of the new Constitution. It consisted of

seven members. They were:

1. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (Chairman)

2. N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar

3. Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar

4. Dr. K.M. Munshi

5. Syed Mohammad Saadullah

6. N. Madhava Rau (He replaced B.L. Mitter who resigned due

to ill-health)

7. T.T. Krishnamachari (He replaced D.P. Khaitan who died in

1948)

The Drafting Committee, after taking into consideration the

proposals of the various committees, prepared the first draft of the

Constitution of India, which was published in February, 1948. The

people of India were given eight months to discuss the draft and

propose amendments. In the light of the public comments,

criticisms and suggestions, the Drafting Committee prepared a

second draft, which was published in October, 1948.

The Drafting Committee took less than six months to prepare

ENACTMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar introduced the final draft of the Constitution in

the Assembly on November 4, 1948 (first reading). The Assembly

had a general discussion on it for five days (till November 9,

1948).

The second reading (clause by clause consideration) started on

November 15, 1948, and ended on October 17, 1949. During this

stage, as many as 7653 amendments were proposed and 2473

were actually discussed in the Assembly.

The third reading of the draft started on November 14, 1949.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar moved a motion–‘the Constitution as settled by

the Assembly be passed’. The motion on Draft Constitution was

declared as passed on November 26, 1949, and received the

signatures of the members and the president. Out of a total 299

members of the Assembly, only 284 were actually present on that

day and signed the Constitution. This is also the date mentioned

in the Preamble as the date on which the people of India in the

Constituent Assembly adopted, enacted and gave to themselves

this Constitution.

The Constitution as adopted on November 26, 1949,

contained a Preamble, 395 Articles and 8 Schedules. The

Preamble was enacted after the entire Constitution was already

enacted.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the then Law Minister, piloted the Draft

Constitution in the Assembly. He took a very prominent part in the

deliberations of the Assembly. He was known for his logical,

forceful and persuasive arguments on the floor of the Assembly.

He is recognised as the ‘Father of the Constitution of India’. This

brilliant writer, constitutional expert, undisputed leader of the

Scheduled Castes and the ‘chief architect of the Constitution of

ENFORCEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION

Some provisions of the Constitution pertaining to citizenship,

elections, provisional parliament, temporary and transitional

provisions, and short title contained in Articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60,

324, 366, 367, 379, 380, 388, 391, 392 and 393 came into force

on November 26, 1949, itself.

The remaining provisions (the major part) of the Constitution

came into force on January 26, 1950. This day is referred to in the

Constitution as the ‘date of its commencement’, and celebrated as

the Republic Day.

January 26 was specifically chosen as the ‘date of

commencement’ of the Constitution because of its historical

importance. It was on this day in 1930 that Purna Swaraj day was

celebrated, following the resolution of the Lahore Session

(December 1929) of the INC.

With the commencement of the Constitution, the Indian

Independence Act of 1947 and the Government of India Act of

1935, with all enactments amending or supplementing the latter

EXPERTS COMMITTEE OF THE CONGRESS

While elections to the Constituent Assembly were still in progress,

on July 8, 1946, the Congress Party (Indian National Congress)

appointed an Experts Committee for the purpose of preparing

material for the Constituent Assembly. This committee consisted

of the following members8b :

1. Jawaharlal Nehru (Chairman)

2. M. Asaf Ali

3. K.M. Munshi

4. N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar

5. K.T. Shah

6. D.R. Gadgil

7. Humayun Kabir

8. K. Santhanam

Later, on the Chairman’s proposal, it was resolved that Krishna

Kripalani be co-opted as member and convener of the committee.

The committee had two sittings, the first at New Delhi from July

20 to 22, 1946, and the second at Bombay from August 15 to 17,

1946.

Apart from a number of notes prepared by its members, the

committee discussed the procedure to be adopted by the

Constituent Assembly, the question of the appointment of various

committees and the draft of a resolution on the objectives of the

constitution to be moved during the first session of the Constituent

Assembly8c .

On the role played by this committee in the making of the

Constitution, Granville Austin, a British constitutional expert,

observed: “It was the Congress Experts Committee that set India

on the road to her present Constitution. The committee members,

working within the framework of the Cabinet Mission Scheme,

made general suggestions about autonomous areas, the powers

of provincial Governments and the Centre, and about such issues

as the princely states and the amending power. They also drafted

CRITICISM OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

The critics have criticised the Constituent Assembly on various

grounds. These are as follows:

1. Not a Representative Body: The critics have argued that the

Constituent Assembly was not a representative body as its

members were not directly elected by the people of India on

the basis of universal adult franchise.

2. Not a Sovereign Body: The critics maintained that the

Constituent Assembly was not a sovereign body as it was

created by the proposals of the British Government. Further,

they said that the Assembly held its sessions with the

permission of the British Government.

3. Time Consuming: According to the critics, the Constituent

Assembly took unduly long time to make the Constitution.

They stated that the framers of the American Constitution

took only four months to complete their work8e. In this

context, Naziruddin Ahmed, a member of the Constituent

Assembly, coined a new name for the Drafting Committee to

show his contempt for it. He called it a “Drifting

Committee”.

4. Dominated by Congress: The critics charged that the

Constituent Assembly was dominated by the Congress

party. Granville Austin, an American Constitutional expert,

remarked: ‘The Constituent Assembly was a one-party body

in an essentially one-party country. The Assembly was the

Congress and the Congress was India’9 .

5. Lawyer-Politician Domination: It is also maintained by the