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
Sachchidanand 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 as are vested in or assigned to the
Union or as are inherent or implied in the Union or resulting therefrom;and
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 a 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 a
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 statewise
membership of the Assembly as on December 31, 1947,
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 Parliament8 after the first
general elections in 1951–52.
