Module Detail
Subject Name Political Science
Paper Name Indian Politics: I
Module
Name/Title
The Constituent Assembly Of India: Functioning
Module Id
Pre-requisites
To provide a historical overview of the
Objectives
formation of Constituent Assembly of India
and its functioning
To describe the socio-economic composition of
the Constituent Assembly
To give an outline of the ideological spectrum
visible in the Constituent Assembly
deliberations
Adult Franchise, Constitution, Democracy,
Keywords Committees, Fundamental Rights, Government, Self
Determination, Social Revolution.
1
,Role Name Affiliation
Principal Investigator Prof. Ashutosh Kumar Panjab
University
Chandigarh.
Dr. Ajay K Mehra
Paper Coordinator University
of Delhi.
Assistant Prof. Vikas Tripathi
Content Writer/Author (CW) Central
University,
Guahati.
Dr. Ajay K Mehra
Content Reviewer (CR) University
of Delhi.
Dr. Ajay K Mehra
Language Editor (LE) University
of Delhi.
2
, THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF INDIA
Vikas Tripathi
.
INTRODUCTION
The idea of a Constituent Assembly germinated in the social contract tradition. That the Constitution of
a sovereign democratic nation would be framed by the citizens themselves is a powerful democratic
assertion. A Constituent Assembly is a body extraordinaire – it is constituted with a specific purpose of
drawing up a Constitution and dissolves on the completion of its task. Also known as a constitutional
convention or a constitutional assembly, it frames a constitution through “internally imposed” actions.
The formation of a Constituent Assembly is an acknowledgement of sovereignty as well as the right to
self-determination of a people. Across the world, major democratic upheavals like the French
Revolution, Russian Revolution and the American Revolution were followed by framing of a
Constitution written by the citizens’ representatives of respective countries in an elected Constituent
Assembly. Sir Ivor Jennings has noted three situations in which a Constituent Assembly comes into
being:
When there is a “great social revolution” or
“when a nation throws off its foreign yoke” or
When “a nation is created by the fusion of smaller political units.”
In this scheme of Sir Jennings, the Indian Constituent Assembly falls into the second category.1
FORMATION
When the Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December, 1946 it was fulfilling an
aspiration of a nation that had demanded the formation of such an assembly since 1924. On 8 February
1924, Motilal Nehru had introduced the ‘National Demand’ in the Central Legislative Assembly
insisting that a representative Round table conference be summoned to facilitate a scheme of
constitution for India. Though this resolution was passed with a large majority in the Central
1
Sir Ivor Jennings referred to in B.L. Fadia (2008) ‘Indian Government and Politics’, Agra: Sahitya Bhawan Publications,
p. 73.
3
Subject Name Political Science
Paper Name Indian Politics: I
Module
Name/Title
The Constituent Assembly Of India: Functioning
Module Id
Pre-requisites
To provide a historical overview of the
Objectives
formation of Constituent Assembly of India
and its functioning
To describe the socio-economic composition of
the Constituent Assembly
To give an outline of the ideological spectrum
visible in the Constituent Assembly
deliberations
Adult Franchise, Constitution, Democracy,
Keywords Committees, Fundamental Rights, Government, Self
Determination, Social Revolution.
1
,Role Name Affiliation
Principal Investigator Prof. Ashutosh Kumar Panjab
University
Chandigarh.
Dr. Ajay K Mehra
Paper Coordinator University
of Delhi.
Assistant Prof. Vikas Tripathi
Content Writer/Author (CW) Central
University,
Guahati.
Dr. Ajay K Mehra
Content Reviewer (CR) University
of Delhi.
Dr. Ajay K Mehra
Language Editor (LE) University
of Delhi.
2
, THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF INDIA
Vikas Tripathi
.
INTRODUCTION
The idea of a Constituent Assembly germinated in the social contract tradition. That the Constitution of
a sovereign democratic nation would be framed by the citizens themselves is a powerful democratic
assertion. A Constituent Assembly is a body extraordinaire – it is constituted with a specific purpose of
drawing up a Constitution and dissolves on the completion of its task. Also known as a constitutional
convention or a constitutional assembly, it frames a constitution through “internally imposed” actions.
The formation of a Constituent Assembly is an acknowledgement of sovereignty as well as the right to
self-determination of a people. Across the world, major democratic upheavals like the French
Revolution, Russian Revolution and the American Revolution were followed by framing of a
Constitution written by the citizens’ representatives of respective countries in an elected Constituent
Assembly. Sir Ivor Jennings has noted three situations in which a Constituent Assembly comes into
being:
When there is a “great social revolution” or
“when a nation throws off its foreign yoke” or
When “a nation is created by the fusion of smaller political units.”
In this scheme of Sir Jennings, the Indian Constituent Assembly falls into the second category.1
FORMATION
When the Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December, 1946 it was fulfilling an
aspiration of a nation that had demanded the formation of such an assembly since 1924. On 8 February
1924, Motilal Nehru had introduced the ‘National Demand’ in the Central Legislative Assembly
insisting that a representative Round table conference be summoned to facilitate a scheme of
constitution for India. Though this resolution was passed with a large majority in the Central
1
Sir Ivor Jennings referred to in B.L. Fadia (2008) ‘Indian Government and Politics’, Agra: Sahitya Bhawan Publications,
p. 73.
3
