Constituent Assembly: Formation and composition

Statement 1 is correct: the Constituent Assembly held its first meeting on 9 December 1946. Statement 2 is incorrect: the Muslim League boycotted the meeting, insisting on a separate State of Pakistan; so only 211 members attended. The League's members never took part in the Assembly as a body, and after partition the members from areas that went to Pakistan formed a separate Constituent Assembly there. The Indian Assembly went on to elect its permanent President on 11 December 1946.

The idea of a Constituent Assembly for India was first put forward in 1934 by M. N. Roy, a pioneer of the communist movement in India. The Indian National Congress took it up as an official demand in 1935. In 1938, Jawaharlal Nehru declared that the constitution of free India must be framed by a Constituent Assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise, without outside interference. The British accepted the demand in principle only in the August Offer of 1940.

At its first meeting on 9 December 1946, the Assembly elected Sachchidananda Sinha, its oldest member, as temporary President, following the French practice of letting the senior-most member preside at an inaugural sitting. On 11 December 1946, Rajendra Prasad was elected the permanent President. H. C. Mukherjee and V. T. Krishnamachari later served as Vice-Presidents, and B. N. Rau was the Assembly's constitutional adviser, who prepared the first draft of the Constitution.

Statement 2 is correct: in the August Offer of 1940, the British Government accepted in principle that framing India's constitution was primarily the responsibility of Indians, after the war. The Cripps Proposals of 1942 offered a constitution-making body but were rejected. Statement 1 is incorrect: the Congress first officially demanded a Constituent Assembly in 1935. The year 1946 is when the Assembly was actually constituted under the Cabinet Mission Plan.

The Constituent Assembly was constituted in November 1946 under the scheme of the Cabinet Mission Plan, announced in May 1946. The Plan fixed the total strength, the allotment of seats to provinces and princely States, and the method of election by provincial assemblies. The Cripps Proposals (1942) had offered an elected constitution-making body after the war but were rejected. The Wavell Plan failed at the Simla Conference of 1945, and the Mountbatten Plan of June 1947 dealt with partition.

Elections to the 296 seats allotted to British India were held in July–August 1946. The Indian National Congress won 208 seats, the Muslim League won 73, and small groups and independents won 15. The 93 seats for the princely States were not filled at that stage, because the States stayed away until later in 1947. The Congress majority shaped the Assembly's work, though it also drew in members from outside the party, such as B. R. Ambedkar.

Option (d) is the incorrect statement. The representatives of the princely States were to be nominated by the heads of the States, the rulers, not elected by their people. So the Assembly was a partly elected and partly nominated body. Its provincial members were indirectly elected by the provincial legislative assemblies, and those assemblies had been chosen on a limited franchise. Critics later used these points to argue that the Assembly was not fully representative, though its members came from most sections of society.

Only two statements are correct. Of the 389 seats under the Cabinet Mission scheme, 296 were allotted to British India (292 from the eleven Governors' provinces and 4 from the Chief Commissioners' provinces) and 93 to the princely States. Statement 3 is incorrect: there was no reservation for women, though about fifteen women did become members. Statement 4 is incorrect: provincial seats were divided among three communities, General, Muslim and Sikh, the last only in Punjab.

Only statement 2 is correct (b). Statement 2 is right: under the Cripps proposals (March 1942), any province unwilling to accept the new constitution could stay out and sign a separate agreement with Britain, with the same status as the Indian Union. Statement 1 is wrong because of one word: the constitution-making body would be elected by the provincial assemblies through proportional representation, while only the princely states would nominate their members.

Notice why both sides rejected it. Congress objected to the provincial opt-out, which looked like a seed of Partition, and to nominated princes; Gandhi reportedly called the offer a "post-dated cheque". The League wanted Pakistan clearly accepted. The failure of Cripps led straight to the Quit India call in August 1942.

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They were officers of the Indian National Army (d). Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sehgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon, a Muslim, a Hindu and a Sikh, were INA officers tried together for treason at the Red Fort in November 1945. Bhulabhai Desai led the defence, with Nehru and Tej Bahadur Sapru on the team. Protests across the country forced the government to remit their sentences. They were not linked with the Swadeshi movement (a), the Interim Government (b) or the Drafting Committee (c).

Notice the slogan "Lal Qila se aai awaaz, Sehgal, Dhillon, Shah Nawaz". The INA trials, along with the Royal Indian Navy mutiny (1946), showed the British they could no longer rely on Indian forces.

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All three pairs are correct (d). Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru was a leading Liberal, a Moderate who left the Congress, and he presided over the All India Liberal Federation (1923 and 1927). He also drafted much of the Nehru Report (1928). K.C. Neogy was a member of the Constituent Assembly, later a Union minister, and chaired the First Finance Commission (1951). P.C. Joshi was the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (1935–47).

Notice the Liberals' roots: the National Liberal Federation, formed in 1918 by Moderates such as Surendranath Banerjea who backed the Montagu–Chelmsford reforms. Sapru also defended INA officers at the Red Fort trials (1945).

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Elected by the Provincial Legislative Assemblies is correct (c). Under the Cabinet Mission Plan (1946), the provincial members of the Constituent Assembly were indirectly elected by the members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies through proportional representation by single transferable vote. Seats were roughly one per million population, divided among Muslims, Sikhs and General. (a) is wrong: there was no direct election. (b) is wrong: parties did not nominate members. (d) is wrong: the government did not select experts. Members from the princely states were nominated by the rulers.

Notice the numbers: the Assembly had 389 members (292 provinces, 93 princely states, 4 chief commissioners' provinces), reduced to 299 after Partition. It first met on 9 December 1946. Trap: 'directly elected' sounds democratic but was not the method.

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