Constituent Assembly of India - Nature of The Assembly

Nature of The Assembly

The Constituent Assembly, consisting of indirectly elected representatives, was set up for the purpose of drafting a constitution for India (including what are now the separate countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh). In the event, it remained in being for almost three years, acting as the first parliament of India after independence in 1947. The Assembly was not elected on the basis of universal adult franchise; plus only Muslims and Sikhs were given special representation as "minorities". The influential Muslim League initially boycotted the Assembly after having failed to prevent its gathering. The Constituent Assembly was a one-party body in a one-party country. The Congress Party had wide diversity within itself, from conservative industrialists to radical Marxists, but party members mainly drove the process.

The Assembly met for the first time in New Delhi on 9 December 1946. The last session of the Assembly was held on January 24, 1950. Over the course of this period (two years, eleven months and seventeen days), the Assembly held eleven sessions, sitting on a total of 165 days. The hope behind the Assembly was expressed by Jawaharlal Nehru: "The first task of this Assembly is to free India through a new constitution, to feed the starving people, and to cloth the naked masses, and to give every Indian the fullest opportunity to develop himself according to his capacity."