Opinion Constitution Day today: How the living document was shaped by a changing Parliament

The Draft Constitution

315 Articles & 8 Schedules | What was in the Draft Constitution

7,635 | Amendments to the Draft Constitution

395 Articles and 8 Schedules | The original Constitution, which was the longest written constitution at the time at 90,000 words

448 Articles & 12 Schedules | What is in the Constitution now

The Constituent Assembly

Using the Government of India Act, 1935 as its base and borrowing from governments around the world, the Constituent Assembly was the body that drafted the Constitution over a span of 11 sessions and 166 sitting days spread across 2 years and 11 months.

Membership of Constituent Assembly
299 | Total members
229 | Elected members from 12 provinces
70 | Nominated members from princely states

By gender
15 | Women members
187 | Men members

By religion
148 | Hindus
23 | Muslims
11 | Christians
6 | Sikhs
3 | Parsis
1 | Buddhist

By political affiliation
164 | Congress
13 | All India Muslim League
8 | Independents
3 | Akali Dal
1 each | All India Anglo-Indian Association, All India Trade Union Congress, CPI, Hindu Mahasabha, Jana Sangha, Janata Party

• Though no caste-specific data is available on the Constituent Assembly, its membership was dominated by upper castes, experts have found, though there were at least six members from backward tribes
• At least 28 members had also previously served in local government, including municipal bodies

How much has the Constitution changed?

In total, the Constitution has been amended 106 times.

[TABLE: Amendments by decade]

• The most amendments came in the 1970s, mostly under the Indira Gandhi government ahead of the Emergency.

[TABLE: Amendments by Prime Minister]

• The most amendments in a single year came in 1990, under V P Singh’s short-lived minority government, at 6.
• After that: 1975, under Indira Gandhi, and in 2000, under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, at 5 each.

Parliament and the people

As the population grew so did Parliament, whose seats were increased periodically through delimitation exercises. Despite this though, each Lok Sabha MP has been representing increasingly populous constituencies. In 2019, though, the Lok Sabha strength was dropped to 543 with the abolition of the nominated seats for Anglo Indian.

[TABLE: How Parliament strength and representation has changed]Women’s representation has also been improving in the Lok Sabha, though to nowhere near their share in the population.

[TABLE: Women’s representation in Lok Sabha]How Parliament has passed laws

Over the years, Parliament has not only spent fewer days and hours working, but it has also passed fewer Bills and relied more on Ordinances.

[TABLE: Parliament functioning]

• While the first Lok Sabha worked for the most average annual sitting days, the fifth Lok Sabha was the most productive in terms of Bills passed.

[TABLE: Ordinances passed by decade]Source: constitutionofindia.net, Lok Sabha Secretariat, Parliament Digital Library, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Election Commission, PIB