The national executive of which political party called for the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and its re-election by adult suffrage ?

Correct — option (2), Socialist Party.

The Constituent Assembly was not elected by the people directly. Under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946, its provincial members were chosen by the provincial legislative assemblies, which had themselves been elected on a limited franchise.

The Socialists had worked inside the Congress as the Congress Socialists since the mid-1930s and split away in early 1948 to form a separate party. They had stayed out of the Assembly, and an attempt in 1947 to bring some of their leaders in came to nothing.

By May 1948 the party had hardened its stand. Granville Austin records that a resolution of the Socialist Party's National Executive, at Belgaum on 24–26 May 1948, called for the dissolution of the Assembly and its re-election by adult suffrage.

The demand was about legitimacy: a body chosen by indirectly elected legislators, the Socialists argued, should give way to one chosen by every adult. The Assembly carried on, and adult suffrage arrived through the Constitution it framed.

Why the others are wrong

• (1)
  Hindu Mahasabha — The Hindu Mahasabha had no official representation in the Constituent Assembly. Austin judges that its absence meant little, and notes that members of the Mahasabha were present under other sponsorship — M. R. Jayakar and Shyama Prasad Mookerjee entered on Congress tickets.

  It did not call for the Assembly to be dissolved and re-elected by adult suffrage; that resolution came from the Socialist Party's National Executive.

• (3)
  Swaraj Party — The Swaraj Party belongs to a different era. Chittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru founded it in 1923 to contest elections to the legislative councils set up under the Government of India Act, 1919, and to oppose the government from inside them.

  It was no longer a force by the time the Constituent Assembly met in December 1946, so it cannot be the party that demanded the Assembly's re-election in 1948.

• (4)
  Muslim League — In 1946 Jinnah withdrew the League's acceptance of the Cabinet Mission Plan and told League representatives to boycott the Constituent Assembly. Austin records that the League never lifted the boycott; the only League representatives who entered the Assembly were those who remained in India after Partition.

  Its quarrel was with the Assembly itself, and it answered by staying away — not by asking for re-election on adult suffrage. That demand came from the Socialist Party's National Executive in 1948.

India's Constituent Assembly was an indirectly elected body. Under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946, members for the provinces were elected by the members of the provincial legislative assemblies, and the princely states were given seats of their own.

The provincial assemblies had been elected in early 1946 on the restricted franchise of the Government of India Act, 1935, with tax, property and educational qualifications. The mass of adult Indians had no direct say in choosing the framers.

That gap drew criticism. The sharpest organised form came from the Socialist Party, whose National Executive resolved in May 1948 that the Assembly should be dissolved and re-elected by adult suffrage. The Assembly continued and completed the Constitution.

Key facts

• Provincial members of the Constituent Assembly were elected by the provincial legislative assemblies under the Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946.
• The Constituent Assembly first met on 9 December 1946; the Muslim League boycotted it.
• The Socialists split from the Congress in early 1948 to form a separate Socialist Party.
• A Socialist Party National Executive resolution (Belgaum, 24–26 May 1948) called for the Assembly's dissolution and re-election by adult suffrage.
• Article 326 provides for elections to the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies on the basis of adult suffrage.

Common traps

• Staying out of the Assembly is not the same as demanding its re-election. Several groups had no official presence; the stem asks which one's national executive passed the dissolution demand.
• The Muslim League also opposed the Assembly, but by boycotting it — not by asking for its re-election on adult suffrage.
• The Swaraj Party sounds like a constitutional-politics answer but belongs to 1923 and council entry under the 1919 Act, two decades before the Assembly met.

UnlockIAS will link similar questions from RAS Pre 2023 and 2018 here once those papers are published on this site.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946, the members of the Constituent Assembly representing the provinces were chosen by:

  • (a)direct election on adult franchise
  • (b)the members of the provincial legislative assemblies
  • (c)nomination by the Governor-General
  • (d)the members of the Central Legislative Assembly
  Answer(2) — The provincial legislative assemblies elected the provincial members. Option (1) describes what the Socialist Party demanded, not what happened. Option (3) is wrong because the Governor-General did not nominate the provincial members. Option (4) is wrong because the election ran through the provincial assemblies, not the central legislature.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Swaraj Party, founded in 1923 to contest elections to the legislative councils, was formed by:

  • (a)Chittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru
  • (b)Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia
  • (c)Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant
  • (d)Vallabhbhai Patel and Rajendra Prasad
  Answer(1) — C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru founded the Swaraj Party to enter the councils. Option (2) names leaders of the Socialist Party formed in 1948. Option (3) names the leaders of the two Home Rule Leagues of 1916. Option (4) names two 'no-changers' who opposed council entry in 1922–23.