The idea of a Constituent Assembly for India was put forward for the first time by M.N.Roy in 1934. And the demand was finally accepted in principle by the British Government in the August Offer of 1940. The constituent assembly was constituted in November 1946 under the scheme formulated by the Cabinet Mission Plan.
Allocations of seats in the Constituent Assembly (1946)-
• British India Provinces – 296
• Princely states – 93
Community wise Representation in the Constituent Assembly (1946)-
• Hindus – 163
• Muslims – 80
• SC – 31
• Indian Christians – 6
• Backward Tribes – 6
• Sikhs – 4
• Anglo-Indians – 3
• Parsees – 3
The election of the Constituent Assembly for 296 seats were held in July-Aug 1946 and INC won 208 seats, the Muslim League 73 seats and the small independents got the remaining seats. Almost all of the major Committees of the Constituent Assembly were headed by the Congress leaders –
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• Union powers committee – J.Nehru
• Union constitution committee – J.Nehru
• Provincial Constitution committee – Sarder Patel
• Drafting Committee – B.R.Ambedkar
Experts view:
• Granvile 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.
• Lord Viscount Simon called it a body of Hindus.
• Winston Churchill – The Constituent Assembly represented only one major community.
But it is wrong in all to call the Constituent Assembly to be one-party dominant body.
• Members like Dr. B.R.Ambedkar, Chairman of the Drafting committee, N G.Ayyangar also played important roles who were from other political parties.
• The representatives of each community were to be elected by member of that community.
• All the decisions were consensus based of every member of Constituent Assembly and not just INC.
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 Indian society – Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Anglo-Indians, SCs, STs including women of all these sections. The Assembly also includes personalities of India at that time.
Important Facts -
• Elephant was adopted as the symbol of the Constituent Assembly.
• Sir B.N.Rau was appointed as the constitutional advisor to the Constituent Assembly.
• H.V.R.Iyengar was the secretary to the Constituent Assembly.
• S.N.Mukherjee was the chief draftsman of the Constitution in the Constituent Assembly.
• Prem Bihari Narain Raizada was the calligrapher of the Indian Constitution.
• The original version was beautified and decorated by artists from Shantiniketan including Nand Lal Bose and Beohar Rammanohar Sinha.
Committees of the Constituent Assembly:
Major Committees -
• Union powers committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
• Union constitution committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
• Provincial Constitution committee – Sardar Patel
• Drafting committee – Dr. B.R.Ambedkar
• Advisory committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded areas- Sardar Patel
• Fundamental Rights Sub-committee – J.B.Kripalani
• Minorities Sub-committee – H.C.Mukherjee
• North -East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam – Gopinath Bordoloi
• Excluded and partially Excluded Areas(other than those in Assam)- A.V.Thakkar
• Rules of Procedure Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad
• States Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
• Steering Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad
