FRAMING OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

It was under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 that the Constituent Assembly was constituted to frame a Constitution for India. The Constituent Assembly, which had been elected for undivided India and held its first sitting on Dec. 9, 1946, reassembled on Aug. 14, 1947, as the sovereign Constituent Assembly for the Dominion of India. As a result of the partition under the Plan of June 3, 1947, a separate Constituent Assembly was set up for Pakistan. When the Constituent Assembly reassembled on Oct. 31,1947) the membership of the House was reduced to 299. Of these 284 were actually present on Nov. 26, 1949, and appended their signatures to the Constitution that was finally passed.

President of the Constitution Assembly was Dr. Rajandra Prasad.

Acceptance of the Constitution:

On Aug. 29, 1947, the Constituent Assembly appointed a Drafting Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Ambedkar. This committee came out with a draft Constitution of India in Feb. 1948. The second reading

of the clauses was completed by Oct. 17, 1949, and the third reading on Nov. 26, 1949, when the Constitution received the signature of the President of the Assembly and was declared as passed.

While certain provisions of the constitution - those relating to citizenship, elections, provisional Parliament, etc. were given immediate effect, the rest of the Constitution came into force on Jan. 26, 1950 because the Congress had been celebrating Independence Day on January 26 every year since 1930. The Constituent Assembly itself became the first provisional parliament. The first elections to parliament were held in 1952.

MEMBERS OF THE DRAFTING COMMITTEE

1. Dr. B.R.Ambedkar (Chairman)

2. N. Gopalaswamy Ayyanagar

3. Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar

4. K.M. Munshi 5. Mohd. Saadullah,

6. B.L. Mitter (later replaced by N. Madhava Rao)

7. Dr. D.P.Khaitan (replaced on death by T.T. Krishnamachari)

HOW THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF INDIA WAS CONSTITUTED?The Constituent Assembly of India was elected through indirect election by the members of the Provincial Legislative Assembly (Lower House only), according to the scheme recommended by the Cabinet Delegation.