Making of the Indian Constitution

Making of the Constitution In India

Demand for Constituent Assembly :- 

M.N. Roy first proposed the notion of creating an Indian Constituent Assembly in the year 1934. Roy was a well-known figure in India's socialist movement. The first time the Indian National Congress formally demanded the creation of a Constituent Assembly to draught the Indian Constitution was in 1935. On behalf of the Indian National Congress, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru declared in 1938 that the Constituent Assembly would write the country's autonomous constitution independently of any foreign intervention and on the basis of adult suffrage.

Finally, the British government agreed in principle to Nehru's proposal. This is recognised as the 1940 "August Offer." A draught proposal from the British Government for the creation of an independent constitution was brought to India by Sir Stafford Cripps, a Cabinet Minister and member of the British Cabinet, in 1942. After the Second World War, this constitution was supposed to be enacted. The Muslim League rejected the Cripps idea. The Muslim League demanded that India be split into two independent regions, each with its own Constituent Assembly. Eventually, the British government dispatched a "Cabinet Mission" to India. The mission proposed a strategy but rejected the desire for two Constituent Assemblies.

Formation of the Constituent Assembly :-

1. The Constituent Assembly was formed in November 1946 under the proposals suggested by the Cabinet Mission Plan. The features of the plan were: 1. The total strength of the Constituent Assembly was to be 389. Of these, 296 seats were to be allotted to British India and 93 to the princely states. allotted to british india.Selection of 292 members in 296 seats. Governors' provinces and four were to be selected from the 'Chief Commissioners' provinces' (one of each).
2. Each province and princely state (or group of states in the case of small states) was to be allotted seats in proportion to their population. Broadly speaking, one seat was to be allotted for every one million people.
3. Determination of the seats allotted to each British province this was to be done among the three major communities in proportion to their population. These three communities were- Muslims, Sikhs and general (except Muslims and Sikhs).
4. The representatives of each community were to be elected in the Provincial Assembly by the members of that community and voted in the manner of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.
5. Selection of representatives of princely states was to be done.

So it was clear that the Constituent Assembly was a partly elected and partly nominated body. In addition, the members were to be selected indirectly by the members of the provincial legislature, who were elected on the basis of a limited franchise.

Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held in July-August 1946. Indian National Congress got 208, Muslim League 73 and small groups and independent members got 15 seats in this election (out of 296 seats allotted for British India). However, the 93 seats allotted to the princely states could not be filled as they decided to keep themselves away from the Constituent Assembly.

Although the Constituent Assembly was not directly elected by the adult electorate of India, each community- Hindu.Representatives of Muslim, Sikh, Parsi, R-Indian, Indian Christian Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes got place. Women were also included in these.