Composition of the Constituent Assembly

Topic: Making of the Constitution: Constituent Assembly, Sources and Salient Features · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 1 "Constitution: Why and How?"

Meaning

The composition of the Constituent Assembly means how its seats were shared out and filled. Under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946, it had 389 seats: 292 for the governor's provinces, 4 for the chief commissioners' provinces and up to 93 for the princely states. Seats were given at roughly one for every ten lakh people. After Partition, the Assembly had 299 members: 229 from provinces and 70 from princely states [2].

Who sat in the Assembly decides whether we can call the Constitution a document made by "We, the People". It is also the main point in the debate on whether a body that was not directly elected could rightly write India's Constitution.

Explanation

How seats were shared out

• Basis: each area got seats in line with its population. The rule was about one seat for every ten lakh (1 million) people.
• Seat break-up (Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946):

Unit	Seats	How members were chosen
Governor's provinces	292	Indirect election by provincial assemblies
Chief commissioners' provinces	4	Indirect election
Princely states	93 (at most)	"By consultation"; in practice the rulers nominated them
Total	389	—

• British India's share: 292 + 4 = 296 seats. Only these seats were filled in the 1946 elections.
• Seats by community: each province's seats were split among three communities in line with their share of the population:
• General: everyone who was not Muslim or Sikh.
• Muslim.
• Sikh.

How members were chosen

• Indirect election: the people did not vote directly. Members of the provincial legislative assemblies chose the Assembly's members [2].
• Separate voting by community:
• Muslim members of a provincial assembly elected the Muslim representatives.
• Sikh members elected the Sikh representatives.

• General members elected the general representatives.

• Proportional representation by single transferable vote (PR-STV): a voting method that gives each group seats in line with its voting strength.

• Each voter ranks the candidates: 1, 2, 3 and so on.
• A candidate who reaches a fixed number of votes (the quota) is elected.
• Surplus votes (votes beyond the quota) move to each voter's next choice.

• So smaller groups can still win some seats.

• Princely states: their members were to be chosen "by consultation". In practice the rulers nominated them. They joined the Assembly step by step from 1947.

Results of the 1946 elections and the change after Partition

• Elections, July–August 1946, for the 296 British India seats:

Party	Seats
Indian National Congress	208
Muslim League	73
Small groups and independents	15
Total	296

• Partition cut the numbers: under the 3 June 1947 Plan (Mountbatten Plan), members from areas going to Pakistan stopped being members. Those areas got their own Constituent Assembly.
• New strength: 299, made up of 229 members from 12 British-Indian provinces and 70 from princely states [2].

Limits: what kind of body it was

• Partly indirectly elected: the provincial assemblies that chose its members had themselves been elected on a limited franchise under the Government of India Act, 1935.

• A limited franchise means only some people could vote: those with property, those who paid tax or those with education.

• Partly nominated: the princely-state members were picked by rulers.

• Not elected by universal adult franchise: not every adult had a vote.
• The Muslim League stayed out: it officially announced its boycott on 22 November 1946 [5]. It did not attend the first sitting on 9 December 1946.

In the Constitution and practice

• Legal basis: the Constitution does not set out the Assembly's composition. The rules came from the Cabinet Mission Plan, announced on 16 May 1946 by the Mission and the Viceroy, Lord Wavell, together [3].

• The Mission had three members: Lord Pethick-Lawrence (Secretary of State for India), Sir Stafford Cripps (President of the Board of Trade) and A.V. Alexander (First Lord of the Admiralty) [3].

• Background, provincial elections of winter 1945–46:

• The Muslim League won all 30 Muslim seats in the Central Legislative Assembly [4].

• Congress won most general seats. But it could no longer claim to speak for all of British India [4].

• First sitting, 9 December 1946: it was held in the Constitution Hall, New Delhi, which is now the Central Hall of Parliament House [6].

• Dr Sachchidananda Sinha chaired it as provisional President because he was the oldest member [6].
• Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected permanent President on 11 December 1946.

• H.C. Mookerjee and V.T. Krishnamachari were Vice-Presidents. Sir B.N. Rau was the Constitutional Adviser.

• How representative it was in practice:

• Religion: it had Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Parsis [2].
• Social groups: it had 28 Scheduled Caste members (castes listed for special protection because of the past injustice of untouchability) and about 6 members from backward tribes [2].
• Women: it had 15 women members [2].

• Congress share: about 82% of seats after Partition. Another estimate puts members elected on a Congress ticket at close to 80% [2].

• Output: this body finished the Constitution in 2 years, 11 months, over 11 sessions and 166 days of sitting [2].

Don't confuse with

• 389 vs 299 members: 389 was the planned total under the Cabinet Mission Plan. 299 was the actual strength after the 3 June 1947 Plan removed members from Pakistan areas.
• 296 vs 292 seats: 292 were for governor's provinces only. 296 (292 + 4) was all of British India, the seats that went to election in 1946.
• Indirect election vs universal adult franchise: the Assembly was chosen by provincial assemblies, which were themselves elected on a limited 1935-Act franchise. Universal adult franchise (a vote for every adult) came only with the new Constitution.
• Community categories vs reserved categories: seats were split only into general, Muslim and Sikh. There was no separate category for Scheduled Castes or Christians, even though 28 SC members were elected [2].

Prelims Hooks

• Seat ratio: one seat per 10 lakh people. Total 389 = 292 provinces + 4 chief commissioners' provinces + 93 princely states.
• Method: indirect election by provincial assemblies, using PR-STV. Not universal adult franchise. Princely-state members were chosen "by consultation", which in practice meant nomination by rulers.
• 1946 results for the 296 British India seats: Congress 208, Muslim League 73, others 15.
• After Partition: 299 members = 229 provinces + 70 princely states [2]. It had 15 women and 28 SC members [2].
• Cabinet Mission members: Pethick-Lawrence, Cripps, A.V. Alexander [3]. Trap: Attlee and Wavell were not members.
• Trap: the communities used to split seats were general, Muslim and Sikh only. There was no SC or Christian category.

Mains Points

• Legitimacy despite indirect election (GS-II): the Assembly was chosen by assemblies elected on a limited franchise, its princely members were nominated and the Muslim League boycotted it. Even so, it was widely accepted because:
• its members came from many religions, castes, regions and ideologies (28 SC members, 15 women) [2];
• its debates were open and public;
• it decided by consensus (broad agreement), not by majority alone.

• NCERT asks what would have changed if all adults had elected it. A good answer weighs both sides: more legitimacy and perhaps more women and Dalit members, but also a risk of more communal campaigning in 1946.

• Congress dominance: one party or a broad coalition? (GS-I/GS-II): Congress held about 80–82% of seats [2]. That looks like one-party control. But:

• Congress itself held socialists, conservatives, religious leaders and secular members, so the Assembly had "almost all shades of opinion";
• members from outside Congress, such as B.R. Ambedkar, and the adviser B.N. Rau played central roles;

• so the Constitution reflects a national agreement reached through negotiation, not one party's programme.

• How composition shaped the content (GS-II):

• Community-wise seats and PR-STV protected minorities inside each province.
• A diverse Assembly gave minorities a sense of ownership of the text. This helps explain the agreement on minority rights such as Articles 29–30 and on reservations.
• Partition removed the League bloc, which freed the Assembly to build a strong centre instead of the weak three-tier federation of the Cabinet Mission Plan.

Related concepts

• Cabinet Mission Plan
• Constituent Assembly

Read more

• The Cabinet Mission and the composition of the Constituent Assembly