Constituent Assembly: Formation, Composition and Working

Constituent Assembly composition refers to the membership structure of the body that framed India's Constitution between 1946 and 1949 — a mix of provincial representatives, princely-state nominees, and members drawn from religious and social communities in proportion to their population. Set up under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946, the Assembly combined a limited, indirectly elected franchise with representation designed to reflect India's federal and plural character. Understanding how it was formed, how its seats were allocated, and how it functioned across its sessions helps explain the legitimacy and design of the Constitution itself.

Background: From the Cripps Mission to the Cabinet Mission Plan

The idea of an Indian Constituent Assembly did not originate with the Cabinet Mission. The Cripps Mission of 1942 had already proposed that India's Constitution be framed by an elected Constituent Assembly, that India would receive Dominion Status, and that a single Indian Union would comprise all Provinces and States — while any non-acceding province could retain its existing constitutional position. The Cripps proposals were not accepted at the time, but they established the principle that Indians themselves, through an elected body, would draft their own Constitution rather than have one imposed by the British Parliament. This principle was carried forward by the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946, under which the Constituent Assembly was actually constituted.

Formation and the 1946 Elections

Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held in July–August 1946. Members were not directly elected by the general public; they were chosen indirectly by the members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies, which had themselves been elected on the limited franchise — based on tax, property and similar qualifications — prescribed under the Government of India Act, 1935.

The Indian National Congress won 208 of the 296 seats allotted to British India, and the Muslim League won 73. The remaining seats were spread across smaller parties and independents, including the Unionist Party, Unionist Muslims, Unionist Scheduled Castes, the Krishak Praja Party, the Scheduled Castes Federation, non-Congress Sikhs, the Communist Party, and independents. The 93 seats reserved for the princely states were not filled at this stage, since the states initially stayed away from the process.

Composition: Seat Allocation

Within British India, the 296 seats (292 from the eleven provinces plus 4 from the Chief Commissioners' Provinces) were further divided among the Muslim, Sikh and General communities in each province by proportional representation. The community-wise break-up was:

Women Members of the Assembly

The Constituent Assembly included 15 women members, drawn from provinces across British India — among them Ammu Swaminathan, Annie Mascarene, Begum Aizaz Rasul, Dakshayani Velayudan, G. Durgabai, Hansa Mehta, Kamla Chaudhri, Leela Ray, Malati Chowdhury, Purnima Banerji, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Renuka Ray, Sarojini Naidu, Sucheta Kripalani and Vijayalakshmi Pandit. Their presence is regularly cited to show that questions of gender representation featured in the Assembly from its earliest sessions.

From a Colonial Body to a Sovereign Assembly

The Assembly first met on 9 December 1946, with Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha presiding as Provisional President before Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected to lead it. The Muslim League kept away from this first session, its 73 members not participating.

The Assembly's character changed with independence and Partition. It reassembled on 14 August 1947 as a sovereign Constituent Assembly for the Dominion of India, no longer confined to the original Cabinet Mission framework. With the departure of the areas that went to Pakistan — West Punjab, East Bengal, the North-West Frontier Province, Sindh, Baluchistan and the Sylhet district of Assam, for which a separate Constituent Assembly was set up — its composition was reworked. By 31 October 1947, its membership stood at 299, comprising members elected from the Provinces and members appointed by the Indian States that had by then acceded to India.

On 17 November 1947, the same body also began functioning as the Dominion Legislature, a role distinct from its constitution-making work, and elected G.V. Mavalankar as its Speaker. This dual role continued after the Constitution commenced, when the Assembly carried on as a Provisional Parliament until it was dissolved on 17 April 1952, when India's first elected Parliament came into being.

Sessions and Working of the Assembly

The Assembly worked through eleven formal sessions over nearly three years:

The Assembly met once more, on 24 January 1950, for members to append their signatures to the completed Constitution.

Adoption and Signing of the Constitution

The Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949. Of its members, 284 were actually present and signed the document. As finally adopted, the Constitution comprised a Preamble, 395 Articles and 8 Schedules — though the Preamble itself was enacted only after the rest of the Constitution had already been adopted, reflecting the Assembly's practice of treating the Preamble as a statement of the decisions already taken rather than a starting point.

UPSC Relevance

Prelims

• Total strength of the Constituent Assembly (389), and the British India/princely states split (296/93).
• Community-wise and party-wise seat distribution in the 1946 elections.
• Key dates: first sitting (9 December 1946), sovereign reassembly (14 August 1947), adoption (26 November 1949), final signing (24 January 1950).
• Provisional President and President of the Assembly; Speaker of the Dominion Legislature (G.V. Mavalankar).

Mains

• Evaluate the representative character of the Constituent Assembly given its indirect election on a restricted franchise.
• Trace the continuity from the Cripps Mission (1942) to the Cabinet Mission Plan (1946) in the demand for a Constituent Assembly.
• Discuss how Partition altered the Assembly's composition and working between 1946 and 1947.

FAQ

Q1. How many total members did the Constituent Assembly have? Its original strength was 389 — 296 from British Indian provinces (including the Chief Commissioners' Provinces) and 93 from the princely states.

Q2. Was the Constituent Assembly directly elected by the people? No. Members were elected indirectly by the Provincial Legislative Assemblies, which were themselves chosen on the limited franchise prescribed under the Government of India Act, 1935.

Q3. Why did the princely states' 93 seats remain unfilled initially? The princely states stayed away from the Constituent Assembly process at first, so their allotted seats were not filled in 1946.

Q4. Who presided over the Constituent Assembly? Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha was the Provisional President at the first sitting; Dr. Rajendra Prasad was subsequently elected President of the Assembly.

Q5. When was the Constitution adopted and finally signed? The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949, with 284 members present signing it; the Assembly met again on 24 January 1950 for further signatures.

Quick Revision

• Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946 — basis for constituting the Constituent Assembly.
• Total strength: 389 (296 British India + 93 princely states).
• Elections: July–August 1946; Congress 208 seats, Muslim League 73 seats.
• First sitting: 9 December 1946; sovereign reassembly: 14 August 1947.
• Post-Partition strength: 299 members by 31 October 1947.
• Constitution adopted: 26 November 1949; final signing: 24 January 1950.
• Adopted Constitution: Preamble, 395 Articles, 8 Schedules.
• 15 women members sat in the Assembly.

Sources

• The Constitution of India — Ministry of Law and Justice, legislative.gov.in
• Constituent Assembly Debates — official archive, Lok Sabha Secretariat

Further Reference

For deeper reading on this topic and the wider polity syllabus, these standard works are recommended:

• M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity (McGraw Hill) — the standard UPSC handbook.
• D.D. Basu, Introduction to the Constitution of India (LexisNexis) — authoritative constitutional-law treatment.
• The Constitution of India — Bare Act — the official text.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, UPSC.wiki earns from qualifying purchases — at no extra cost to you.