The Cabinet Mission and the composition of the Constituent Assembly

Detail

1. The Cabinet Mission (1946)

• Cabinet Mission: three members of the British Cabinet sent to India in 1946. Their job was to agree with Indian leaders on how power would pass to India and how a constitution would be written. Class 11 NCERT calls it a "committee of the British cabinet".
• Its three members and their posts [3]:
• Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Secretary of State for India.
• Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade.

• A.V. Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty.

• Cabinet Mission Plan: the Mission's proposals for India's constitutional future. They were announced on 16 May 1946.

• The Mission and the Viceroy, Lord Wavell, issued the Plan together as a statement [3].

• They issued it because the Indian political parties could not agree among themselves [3].

• Cripps did most of the drafting of the Plan [4].

• A three-tier federation: a federation is a system where power is shared between a central government and its units. The Plan's three tiers were the Union, the groups of provinces and the provinces [4].
• The Union government would be weak. It would handle only foreign affairs, defence and communications, plus the money needed for these subjects [4].

• Provinces would form three groups [4]:

  • Group A: Hindu-majority provinces.
  • Group B: Muslim-majority provinces in the west.
  • Group C: Bengal and Assam.

• The grouping dispute, the Muslim League's withdrawal and Direct Action Day are covered as history in the note on framing the Constitution.

2. How seats were allotted

• Basis: seats were given roughly by population, at one seat for every ten lakh (1 million) people.
• Seat break-up:

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

• Seats for British India: 292 + 4 = 296. Only these seats were filled in the 1946 elections.
• Community-wise division: each province's seats were divided among three communities, general, Muslim and Sikh, in line with their share of the population.
• "General" meant everyone who was not Muslim or Sikh.

3. Method of election

• Indirect election: the people did not vote directly. Members of the provincial legislative assemblies chose the Assembly's members [2].
• Separate voting by community: the 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 in order of choice: 1, 2, 3 and so on.
• A candidate who reaches the fixed quota of votes is elected.
• Surplus votes (votes beyond the quota) pass to the voters' next choice.

• Smaller groups can therefore still win some seats.

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

4. The 1946 elections: an assembly partly elected, partly nominated

• Background: provincial elections were held in winter 1945–46. The Muslim League won all 30 Muslim seats in the Central Legislative Assembly and most Muslim seats in the provinces [5].

• Congress won most general seats. However, it could no longer claim to speak for all of British India [5].

• Constituent Assembly elections, July–August 1946 (296 British-India seats):

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

• Nature of the body:
• It was partly indirectly elected, by provincial assemblies. Those assemblies had themselves been chosen on a limited franchise: under the Government of India Act, 1935, only people with property, tax-paying or education qualifications could vote.
• It was partly nominated, through the princely states' members.
• It was not elected by universal adult franchise, meaning a vote for every adult.

5. First sitting and office-bearers

• League boycott: the Muslim League opposed calling the Assembly. It announced its boycott officially on 22 November 1946 [6].
• First sitting, 9 December 1946:
• It was held in New Delhi, in the Constitution Hall. This is now the Central Hall of Parliament House [7].
• The League stayed away.

• NCERT Class 7 says the Assembly was "formed" on this date. More exactly, 9 December was its first sitting. The Cabinet Mission Plan had created the Assembly in 1946 [2].

• Provisional President, Dr Sachchidananda Sinha:

• A provisional President chairs the house for a short time, until a permanent President is elected.
• Sinha took the chair because he was the oldest member [7].
• He was also India's oldest parliamentarian. He had been a member of the Imperial Legislative Council from 1910 and of the Central Legislative Assembly from 1921 [8].

• He opened the session by giving his blessings to the Assembly's work.

• Permanent President: Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected on 11 December 1946. The correct title is President. NCERT Class 7 wrongly calls him "Chairman".

• Vice-Presidents: H.C. Mookerjee and V.T. Krishnamachari.
• Constitutional Adviser: Sir B.N. Rau. He was a civil servant and legal expert who prepared the background papers and the first draft.

6. Partition and the reduced Assembly

• 3 June 1947 Plan (Mountbatten Plan): this plan accepted the Partition of India.
• Members from areas going to Pakistan stopped being members of India's Assembly.

• Those areas would have a separate Constituent Assembly.

• Strength after Partition: 299:

Unit	Members
Provinces	229 (12 British-Indian provinces) [2]
Princely states	70 [2]
Total	299

• Length of work: the Assembly finished the Constitution in 2 years, 11 months and 11 sessions spread over 166 days [2].

7. How representative was it?

• Religion: members from all religions sat in the Assembly, including Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Parsis [2].
• Social groups:
• It had 28 Scheduled Caste members. Scheduled Castes are the castes listed for special protection because of the historical injustice of untouchability.

• It also had about 6 members from backward tribes [2].

• Women: it had 15 women members [2]. Their names are listed in the history note on framing the Constitution.

• Congress dominance: Congress held about 82% of seats after Partition. Another estimate says close to 80% of members were elected on a Congress ticket [2].
• Congress was very diverse inside. It included socialists, conservatives, religious leaders and secular members.
• So the Assembly still held "almost all shades of opinion".

• Some leading members were not from Congress, for example B.R. Ambedkar.

• Legitimacy question: Was the Assembly valid without the Muslim League and without adult franchise? Its defence rests on three points:

• its members were very diverse;
• its debates were open and in public;
• it decided by consensus (broad agreement) rather than by majority alone.

Prelims Hooks

• The Cabinet Mission had three members: Pethick-Lawrence (Secretary of State for India), Stafford Cripps (President of the Board of Trade) and A.V. Alexander (First Lord of the Admiralty). Trap: Attlee and Wavell were not members.
• Seat ratio: one seat per 10 lakh people. Total 389 = 292 provinces + 4 chief commissioners' provinces + 93 princely states.
• Communities used to divide each province's seats: general, Muslim, Sikh. No separate category for Scheduled Castes or Christians.
• Method of election: indirect, by provincial assemblies, using proportional representation by single transferable vote. It was not universal adult franchise.
• Princely-state members were chosen "by consultation", which meant nomination by the rulers.
• 1946 elections to the 296 British-India seats: Congress 208, Muslim League 73, others 15.
• First sitting: 9 December 1946, chaired by provisional President Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest member. Rajendra Prasad was elected President on 11 December 1946.
• Vice-Presidents: H.C. Mookerjee and V.T. Krishnamachari. Constitutional Adviser: B.N. Rau.
• After the 3 June 1947 Plan, strength fell to 299 (229 provinces + 70 princely states). The Assembly had 15 women.
• Under the Cabinet Mission Plan, the Union was limited to foreign affairs, defence and communications. Provinces were grouped into A, B and C.

Mains Points

• Legitimacy despite indirect election (GS-II): The Assembly was chosen by assemblies elected on a 1935-Act limited franchise, and princely members were nominated. Even so, it was widely accepted for four reasons:
• it spread across religions, castes, regions and ideologies (28 SC members, 15 women);
• Congress itself was a broad coalition;
• its debates were open and public;
• it decided by consensus.

• NCERT's cartoon question asks what would have changed if all adults had elected it. Possible answers: greater legitimacy and maybe more women and Dalit members, but also a risk of more polarised communal campaigning in 1946.

• Why diversity mattered (GS-II/GS-I):

• A diverse body gave minorities ownership of the final text.
• It reduced the risk that a majority would write the Constitution to suit itself.
• It explains why rights such as Articles 29–30 (minority cultural and educational rights) and reservations found consensus.

• This answers NCERT Class 7's question on diversity.

• Design of the Cabinet Mission scheme (GS-I):

• PR-STV and community-wise seats protected minorities inside each province.
• However, the weak centre and grouping of provinces encouraged communal blocs. Disputes over grouping led to the League's boycott (announced 22 November 1946).

• Partition later freed the Assembly to build a strong centre.

• Congress dominance: one-party domination or a broad coalition? (GS-I):

• About 80–82% of seats were Congress seats. This could suggest one-party control.
• But Congress included many opposing views, and non-Congress experts such as Ambedkar and B.N. Rau played central roles. So the Constitution reflects a negotiated national consensus rather than a party programme.