The
Constituent Assembly was set up while India was still under
British rule, following negotiations between Indian leaders and members of the
1946 Cabinet Mission to India from the United Kingdom. The
provincial assembly elections had been conducted early in 1946. The Constituent Assembly members were elected to it indirectly by the members of these newly elected provincial assemblies, and initially included representatives for those provinces which came to form part of
Pakistan, some of which are now within
Bangladesh. The Constituent Assembly had 299 representatives, including nine women. The
Interim Government of India was formed on 2 September 1946 from the newly elected Constituent Assembly. The Indian National Congress held a large majority in the Assembly, with 69 percent of all of the seats, while the Muslim League held almost all of the seats reserved in the Assembly for Muslims. There were also some members from smaller parties, such as the
Scheduled Caste Federation, the
Communist Party of India, and the
Unionist Party. In June 1947, the delegations from the provinces of
Sindh,
East Bengal,
Baluchistan,
West Punjab, and the
North West Frontier Province withdrew, to form the
Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, meeting in
Karachi. On 15 August 1947, the
Dominion of India and
Dominion of Pakistan became independent nations, and the members of the Constituent Assembly who had not withdrawn to Karachi became
India's Parliament. Only 28 members of the Muslim League finally joined the Indian Assembly. Later, 93 members were nominated from the
princely states. The Congress thus secured a majority of 82% Jawaharlal Nehru took charge as the first
Prime Minister of India on 15 August 1947, and chose 15 other members for his cabinet. Vallabhbhai Patel served as the first
Deputy Prime Minister until his death on 15 December 1950.
Lord Mountbatten, and later
C. Rajagopalachari, served as
Governor-General until 26 January 1950, when
Rajendra Prasad was elected as the first
President of India. == Cabinet members ==