• 1934- idea of a Constituent Assembly for India was put forward for the first time by M.N. Roy, a pioneer of communist movement in India.
• 1935-  the Indian National Congress (INC), for the first time, officially demanded a Constituent Assembly to frame the Constitution of India
• 1938- Nehru declared constitution must be framed, without outside interference, by a Constituent Assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise
• 1940- August Offer; demand for constitution accepted
• 1942- Sir Stafford Cripps, a Member of the Cabinet, came to India with a draft proposal of the British Government on the framing of an independent Constitution to be adopted after the World War II ( Proposal rejected by Muslim league)
• 1946-Constituent Assembly was constituted in November 1946 under the scheme formulated by the Cabinet Mission Plan
• The Constituent Assembly was to be a partly elected and partly nominated body. Moreover, the members were to be indirectly elected by the members of the provincial assemblies, who themselves were elected on a limited franchise.
• Assembly comprised representatives of all sections of the Indian society– Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Anglo-Indians, Indian Christians, SCs, STs including women of all these sections
• 9 dec,1946 – 1st meeting of assembly; Muslim League boycotted the meeting; Schindra Sinha made temporary president(French practice)
• 11 Dec, 1946- Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of the Assembly. Similarly, both H.C. Mukherjee and V.T. Krishnamachari were elected as the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly
• 13 Dec, 1946- Jawaharlal Nehru moved the historic ‘Objectives Resolution’ (philosophy of constitution structure) in the Assembly
• 22 Jan,1947- Resolution adopted
• 3 June, 1947- Mountbatten Plan
• Indian Independence Act of 1947-Assembly was made a fully sovereign body; Assembly also became a legislative body; the Assembly became the first Parliament of free India (Dominion Legislature)
• Whenever the Assembly met as the Constituent body it was chaired by Dr. Rajendra Prasad and when it met as the legislative body, it was chaired by G.V. Mavlankar. These two functions continued till November 26, 1949
• Constituent Assembly also performed the following functions:

1. It ratified India’s membership of the Commonwealth in May 1949.
2. It adopted the national flag on July 22, 1947.
3. It adopted the national anthem on January 24, 1950.
4. It adopted the national song on January 24, 1950.
5. It elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India on January 24, 1950

• The Constitution as adopted on November 26, 1949, contained a Preamble, 22 PARTS, 395 Articles and 8 Schedules. The Preamble was enacted after the entire Constitution was already enacted
• Some provisions of the Constitution pertaining to citizenship, elections, provisional parliament, temporary and transitional provisions, and short title contained in Articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 324, 366, 367, 379, 380, 388, 391, 392 and 393 came into force on November 26, 1949, itself
• MAJOR COMMITTEES

Drafting committee- BR ambedkar

Steering Committee- Rajendra Prasad

Union Powers Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru

Union Constitution Committee -Jawaharlal Nehru

Provincial Constitution Committee -Sardar Patel