Formation

It was decided that the Constituent Assembly was to be elected indirectly by the Provincial Assemblies. According to the plan, the provinces of British India were grouped into three categories, A, B and C. Each province was allotted seats on the basis of the population, in the ratio of one member for a million. The seats given to a province were decided among three communities on the basis of their number, the three communities being the Muslims, Sikhs and General including Hindus and all others who were not Muslims and Sikhs. They were to be elected by the representatives of each community in their respective legislative assemblies by the method of proportional representation with single transferable vote. The number of members allotted to the Indian states was also to be fixed on the same basis of population as adopted for British India, but the method of their selection was to be settled later by consultation. The strength of the constitution-making body was to be 389. Of these, 296 representatives were to be from British India, (292 representatives drawn from the eleven Governors’ Provinces of British India and a representative each from the four Chief Commissioners’ Provinces of Delhi, Ajmer-Merwara, Coorg and British Baluchistan) and 93 representatives from the

Indian states. The states’ representatives were to be nominated by the respective rulers.

Elections for the 296 seats assigned to the British Indian Provinces were completed by July-August 1946. The Congress won 208 seats including all the General seats except nine and the Muslim League 73 seats, that is, all but five of the seats allotted to Muslims.

The 93 seats meant for the states’ representatives remained vacant and the princely states decided not to participate in the Constituent Assembly. However, representatives of some of the states (Baroda, Bikaner, Jaipur, Patiala, Rewa, and Udaipur) entered the Assembly by April 1947 and by August 15, 1947 and, soon after, all the states had sent their representatives to the Assembly.

The Assembly was, however, not able to start its work immediately as Jinnah withdrew his acceptance and caused the Muslim League to boycott it. The Congress went ahead with its plan and appointed an expert committee to draft Fundamental Rights and arrange an early session of the Assembly. The party also accepted the viceroy’s invitation to form an interim government, with Jawaharlal Nehru as prime minister. The Constituent Assembly opened on December 9, 1946 in the Constitution Hall—now the Central Hall of Parliament House at New Delhi. Jawaharlal Nehru moved the historic Objectives Resolution on 13 December 1946, after it had been in session for some days. The resolution envisaged a federal polity with the residuary powers vesting in the autonomous units and sovereignty belonging to the people. The Resolution gave to the Assembly its guiding principles and the philosophy of constitution- making.