The election to the Constituent Assembly based
on the Cabinet Mission’s Plan took place in July 1946.
The sets in each Province were distributed among the
three main communities, Muslims, Sikh and General, in
proportion to their respective populations. The election
was indirect in that members of each community in the
Provincial Assemblies elected their own representatives
by the method of proportional representation with
single transferable vote. The Constituent Assembly
first met on 9th December 1946, without the members
of the Muslim League. Dr.Rajendra Prasad was elected
President and various committees were appointed to
draft the different parts of the Constitution. As a result
of the Partition and the Indian Independence Act of
1947, which provided for separate Constituent
Assemblies for India Pakistan, separate Constituent
Assembly was set up for Pakistan. The Constituent
Assembly of India reassembled on 14 August 1947, as
the Sovereign Constituent Assembly for the Dominion
of India. The membership of the Assembly was
reduced to 299 when it met again on 31 October 1947
with some members ceasing to be so after their
Provinces opted to join Pakistan.