The Constituent Assembly of India was elected to write the Constitution of India, and served as its first Parliament as an independent nation.

Election

The Constituent Assembly of India was set up as a result of negotiations between the Indian leaders and members of the British Cabinet Mission. The A constituent assembly would be elected indirectly by the members of the Provincial legislative assembly. The Congress secured an overwhelming majority in the general seats while the Muslim League managed to sweep almost all the seats reserved for Muslims. The Congress had a majority of 69%. There were also members from smaller parties like the Scheduled Caste Federation and the Unionist Party.

It first met on December 9 1946 in Delhi, while India was still under British rule. It originally included the provinces that now compose Pakistan, and the representation of the princely states of India. In June 1947, the delegations from the provinces of Sindh, East Bengal, Baluchistan, West Punjab and the North West Frontier Province formed the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in Karachi.

The final Constituent Assembly had two hundred and seven representatives, including nine women. Only 28 members of the Muslim League finally joined the Indian Assembly. The Congress thus secured a majority of 82%.

On August 15 1947, India became an independent nation, and the Constituent Assembly became India's Parliament.

Organization

Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the President of the Constituent Assembly, and would later became the first President of India.

The Assembly, much like the modern Parliament system, was divided into committees and sub-committees to deal with specific branches of government. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar served as the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, responsible for writing the Constitution. The Constituent Assembly represented a wide spectrum of Indian society. The Congress made a special effort to nominate women and other minorities. Despite, its wide diversity, historians indicate that the proceedings were controlled by a handful of prominent leaders, namely, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Rajendra Prasad and Maulana Azad.

Constitution and elections

The Assembly approved the Constitution on January 26, 1949, making it official. On January 26, 1950, the Constitution took effect - a day now commemorated as Republic Day nationwide.

At this point, the Constituent Assembly became the Provisional Parliament of India, until the first elections under the new Constitution took place in 1952.

Members of the Indian Constituent Assembly

• Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
• Sardar Patel
• Maulana Azad
• Dr. Rajendra Prasad
• C. Rajagopalachari
• Sarat Chandra Bose
• Rafi Ahmed Kidwai
• Asaf Ali
• Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
• Hansa Mehta
• Kailashnath Katju
• K.M. Munshi
• Frank Anthony
• Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
• Begum Aizaz Rasul
• Maulana Hasrat Mohani
• Dr. John Mathai
• Pratap Singh Kairon
• Shibbanlal Saxena
• Jagjivan Ram
• Pandit Govind Ballab Pant
• Minoo Masani
• Renuka Ray
• Purushottam Das Tandon
• Mahavir Tyagi
• Thakur Das Bhargava
• Dr. Ambedkar
• Feroz Gandhi
• B. Shiva Rao
• Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
• Daulatram
• Annie Mascarenas
• Thakur Das Bhargava

See also

• History of Independent India, Constitution of India
• Indian Independence Movement
• Constituent Assembly
• Some facts of the Constituent Assembly
• Debates of the Constituent Assembly The debates of the constituent assembly were held in the process of drafting the Indian Constitution.

Independent India