संविधान का निर्माण: संविधान सभा

Making of the Constitution: the Constituent Assembly

How to use this lesson. Read it once properly (about 40 minutes). Then close it and explain the whole story back to Claude in chat, from memory, in your own words. Only after that, open the quiz at the bottom. Getting things wrong in the quiz is the point: that is where the learning sticks.

1. Why this topic matters

Almost every polity question about the Constitution assumes you know who made it, how, and when. Prelims loves this topic because it is full of clean, testable facts: dates, numbers, names, committees. Mains (GS-II) uses it for questions like "Was the Constituent Assembly truly representative?" UPPSC also likes a UP twist: which members came from the United Provinces.

What examiners actually test here:

• The composition: 389 seats, how they were split, how members were chosen.
• The key dates: 9 December 1946, 13 December 1946, 26 November 1949, 24 January 1950, 26 January 1950.
• Committees and their chairmen, above all the Drafting Committee.
• The Assembly's other jobs besides writing the Constitution.
• The criticisms of the Assembly and the answers to them.

2. The story in one paragraph

Indians wanted to write their own constitution instead of living under British-made Acts. The idea was put forward by M. N. Roy in 1934. The Congress made it an official demand in 1935, and Nehru restated it in 1938. The British first accepted it in principle in the August Offer of 1940. The Cripps Mission (1942) offered it again but was rejected. It finally happened under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946, which laid down how the Assembly would be formed. Elections were held in July and August 1946, the Assembly first met on 9 December 1946, adopted the Constitution on 26 November 1949, and the Constitution came fully into force on 26 January 1950.

3. Timeline

4. Composition (the most tested part)

Total strength under the Cabinet Mission Plan: 389

Rules of the scheme:

• Seats were allotted roughly one per ten lakh (one million) population.
• Seats of each province were split among Muslims, Sikhs and General (everyone else) in proportion to their population.
• Members of each community were elected by members of that community in the provincial assembly, by proportional representation using the single transferable vote.

So the Assembly was partly elected and partly nominated, and not elected directly on adult franchise. This is the root of the "not representative" criticism.

After partition: members from Pakistan areas left, and strength fell to 299: 229 from provinces and 70 from princely states.

5. Two hats: constitution-maker and Parliament

After the Indian Independence Act 1947, the Assembly worked in two roles:

It continued as the provisional Parliament until the first Lok Sabha after the 1951 to 52 elections.

Other things it did, besides writing the Constitution:

1. Ratified India's membership of the Commonwealth (May 1949).
2. Adopted the national flag (22 July 1947).
3. Adopted the national anthem and national song (24 January 1950).
4. Elected Dr Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India (24 January 1950).

6. Committees: who chaired what

Major committees:

Sub-committees of the Advisory Committee:

Memory hook: Nehru took the Union and the States (the big structure). Patel took the Provinces and Rights and minorities (the people). Prasad ran the house: rules and steering. Ambedkar drafted.

The Drafting Committee had 7 members:

1. Dr B. R. Ambedkar (Chairman)
2. N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar
3. Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar
4. Dr K. M. Munshi
5. Syed Mohammad Saadullah
6. N. Madhava Rau (replaced B. L. Mitter, who resigned)
7. T. T. Krishnamachari (replaced D. P. Khaitan, who died in 1948)

Other names to know:

• Sir B. N. Rau: Constitutional Advisor to the Assembly; prepared the first draft.
• H. V. R. Iyengar: Secretary of the Assembly.
• S. N. Mukherjee: Chief Draftsman.
• Prem Behari Narain Raizada: hand-wrote the original Constitution in calligraphy.
• Nandalal Bose and his students: illustrated the original manuscript.
• The elephant was adopted as the symbol (seal) of the Assembly.

7. Numbers that get asked

• Time taken: 2 years, 11 months and 18 days.
• Sessions: 11, sitting for 165 days; the draft alone was considered for 114 days.
• Cost: about ₹64 lakh.
• The Constitution as adopted: a Preamble, 395 Articles, 22 Parts and 8 Schedules.
• About 7,600 amendments to the draft were tabled and about 2,500 were actually discussed.
• 284 members signed the Constitution on 24 January 1950.
• Some provisions came into force on 26 November 1949 itself: those on citizenship, elections, the provisional Parliament, temporary and transitional provisions and the short title (Articles 5 to 9, 60, 324, 366, 367, 379, 380, 388, 391 to 393).

8. Criticisms, and the standard answers

Mains tip: a balanced answer names the criticism, gives the counter, and ends with the outcome: a Constitution that has worked for 75 years.

9. The UP angle (for UPPSC)

The United Provinces sent one of the largest delegations. Members worth remembering:

• Jawaharlal Nehru, elected from the United Provinces: moved the Objectives Resolution; chaired the Union Powers, Union Constitution and States committees.
• Govind Ballabh Pant: the first Premier and later the first Chief Minister of UP.
• Purushottam Das Tandon: a strong advocate of Hindi in the debates on the official language.
• Begum Aizaz Rasul: the only Muslim woman member of the Constituent Assembly.
• Sucheta Kripalani: later the first woman Chief Minister in India (UP, 1963).
• Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit: later the first woman President of the UN General Assembly.

Of the 15 women members of the Assembly, several came from the United Provinces, which makes this a natural UPPSC question.

10. Quick revision (read this in 90 seconds)

• Idea: M. N. Roy, 1934. British acceptance: August Offer, 1940. Blueprint: Cabinet Mission, 1946.
• 389 seats: 292 + 4 British India (indirectly elected), 93 princely states (nominated). After partition: 299.
• First meeting 9 Dec 1946, temporary President Sachchidananda Sinha, permanent President Rajendra Prasad (11 Dec).
• Objectives Resolution: Nehru, 13 Dec 1946, adopted 22 Jan 1947, became the Preamble.
• Drafting Committee: 29 Aug 1947, Ambedkar, 7 members. Advisor: B. N. Rau.
• Adopted 26 Nov 1949 (Constitution Day). In force 26 Jan 1950 (Purna Swaraj Day link).
• 2 y 11 m 18 d, 11 sessions, 165 days, about ₹64 lakh.
• As a legislature, presided over by G. V. Mavalankar.
• UP: Begum Aizaz Rasul, only Muslim woman member.

11. Explain it back (do this before the quiz)

Close this page and tell Claude, in your own words:

1. Why was a Constituent Assembly demanded, and when did the British finally agree to it?
2. How were its 389 members chosen, and why is that the basis of the "not representative" criticism?
3. What were the Assembly's two roles after 1947, and who presided over each?
4. Walk through the five key dates from first meeting to coming into force.
5. Name the major committees and their chairmen, using the memory hook.

12. Practice MCQs (UPPSC style)

Try all ten first. Then open each answer.

Q1. The idea of a Constituent Assembly for India was first put forward by: (a) Jawaharlal Nehru (b) M. N. Roy (c) Mahatma Gandhi (d) B. R. Ambedkar

Q2. The Constituent Assembly was set up under the scheme of: (a) the Cripps Mission (b) the August Offer (c) the Cabinet Mission Plan (d) the Mountbatten Plan

Q3. Consider the following statements about the Constituent Assembly:

1. Its members from British India were directly elected by the people on the basis of adult franchise.
2. Representatives of the princely states were nominated by their rulers.
3. Seats were allotted roughly in proportion to population.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3

Q4. Who presided over the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly on 9 December 1946? (a) Dr Rajendra Prasad (b) Dr Sachchidananda Sinha (c) Jawaharlal Nehru (d) G. V. Mavalankar

Q5. The Objectives Resolution, which later took shape as the Preamble, was moved by: (a) Dr B. R. Ambedkar (b) Sardar Patel (c) Jawaharlal Nehru (d) Dr Rajendra Prasad

Q6. Match the committee with its chairman:

(a) A-3, B-1, C-2, D-4 (b) A-1, B-3, C-2, D-4 (c) A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4 (d) A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4

Q7. When the Constituent Assembly functioned as a legislative body after independence, it was presided over by: (a) Dr Rajendra Prasad (b) G. V. Mavalankar (c) H. C. Mukherjee (d) B. N. Rau

Q8. Which of the following was NOT done by the Constituent Assembly? (a) Adopting the national flag (b) Ratifying India's membership of the Commonwealth (c) Electing the first Vice-President of India (d) Electing the first President of India

Q9. At the time of its adoption, the Constitution of India contained: (a) 395 Articles, 22 Parts and 8 Schedules (b) 395 Articles, 22 Parts and 12 Schedules (c) 448 Articles, 25 Parts and 12 Schedules (d) 395 Articles, 24 Parts and 8 Schedules

Q10. Who among the following, a member from the United Provinces, was the only Muslim woman in the Constituent Assembly? (a) Sucheta Kripalani (b) Begum Aizaz Rasul (c) Ammu Swaminathan (d) Hansa Mehta

13. Mains practice (GS-II, 125 words, 8 minutes)

"The Constituent Assembly was not a representative body, yet it produced a Constitution that represented India." Discuss.

Write your answer first, by hand or typed, in 8 minutes. Then compare.

14. Hindi glossary (हिंदी शब्दावली)

15. Sources and what to check

• Standard source: M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity, chapter "Making of the Constitution" (read alongside this lesson).
• Official: Constituent Assembly Debates, Lok Sabha Secretariat (eparlib.nic.in).
• Previous-year questions: not added yet. Real UPPSC questions on this topic will be added once we collect the official papers, instead of guessing at them here.

Lesson written 19 October 2026, studied 19 October 2026. Revision due: 22 Oct (day 3), 29 Oct (day 10), 18 Nov (day 30), 17 Jan 2027 (day 90).